Books – Montreal Times – Montreal's English Weekly Newspaperhttp://mtltimes.ca
Montreal Times - Montreal's English Weekly NewspaperMon, 19 Nov 2018 21:33:05 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (Book Review)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fear-trump-in-the-white-house-by-bob-woodward-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fear-trump-in-the-white-house-by-bob-woodward-book-review/#respondTue, 13 Nov 2018 18:03:36 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=53024Fear: Trump in the White House – Since the beginning of this year, which marked the first anniversary of Donald Trump being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, there has been a whole tidal wave of books that has examined practically every aspect of his controversial presidency. Whether they were written […]

]]>Fear: Trump in the White House – Since the beginning of this year, which marked the first anniversary of Donald Trump being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, there has been a whole tidal wave of books that has examined practically every aspect of his controversial presidency. Whether they were written by insiders, outsiders, experts, journalists or pundits, or looked at Trump the president, what goes on inside his White House, or his alleged Russian connection, you can fill an entire case of bookstore shelves with books about President Trump, favourable and unfavourable.

While Wolff’s book was more like a “fly-on-the-wall” approach to what is going on behind the walls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during the first year of the Trump administration, Woodward, using his Pulitzer Prize-winning skills as an investigative reporter and best selling author (by conducting hundreds of hours of interviews and doing diligent research through plenty of official and secret documentation), gives a chilling, frustrating portrait of how this apathetic train wreck is running things from his perch of the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.

When he was a presidential candidate, Trump admitted that fear was real power. But when you read Woodward’s book, the real fear that arises is how in less than two years in office, he has ran the presidency with a complete disregard for the office, and a complete disrespect for the traditions and procedures that have been developed for over 200 years in order to realize the chief executive’s legislative agenda.

“All presidencies are audience driven, but Trump’s central audience was often himself. He kept giving himself reviews. Most were passionately positive. Much of his brain was in the press box,” writes Woodward. “The operations of the Oval Office and White House were less the Art of the Deal and more often the Unraveling of the Deal. The unraveling was often right before your eyes, a Trump rally on continuous loop. There was no way not to look.”

And there are so many glaring examples of the above passage in the book, as Woodward offers a behind-the-scenes look at how Donald Trump is president in his own unique, improvisational way.

First, there’s how 2016 campaign manager and later chief strategist Steve Bannon achingly wanted to pull the strings and be the real power behind President Trump, only to be stopped by First Daughter Ivanka (no matter how many times she adamantly insisted to Bannon that she was not merely a White House staffer); there’s former high level staffers Reince Priebus, Gary Cohn and Rob Porter, who represented rare examples of rationality and procedure in the Oval Office by preparing thorough briefs and reports on a number of salient issues that merited Trump’s attention, only to have them totally ignored or paid lip service at best by the president; there’s Trump’s rather unorthodox presidential work ethic, in which he didn’t arrive at the Oval Office until 11 a.m., and was prescribed “executive time” to help him fulfill his daily presidential duties (which comprised mainly of watching several cable news broadcasts and making constant phone calls to friends and allies.

…And the list just goes as he rather dodges his way through a number of issues and matters during those first 18 months, such as the Mueller investigation, his relations with Russia and North Korea, the American military presence in South Korea and the Middle East, the Charlottesville riot, and his attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare (aka the Affordable Health Care Act).

There is no way for the reader to even suggest that Fear is attached with a personal agenda for Bob Woodward. Basically, he continues the journalistic tradition that he established over 40 years ago when he and fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein collaborated together to break the Watergate Scandal that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974 (and evolved into two monumental best selling books, All the President’s Men and The Final Days). With subsequent books on the presidential administrations from Reagan through Obama, Bob Woodward has become the authoritative, objective voice into what really goes on within the corridors of power in the White House, and the characteristics of the President of the United States and his main power players who made their respective administrations tick.

And the story of the Trump presidency is not over, yet. With continuing issues and controversies, that could easily bring down any mortal presidency in flames, such as the migration caravan, the caging and separation of illegal immigrant families, the move to abolish birthright citizenship, the mailing of pipe bombs to Trump opponents, the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and the turbulent 2018 midterm elections, Woodward will be busy once again telling the inside story of life in the Trump White House, whether through an expanded paperback edition next year, or a totally new separate volume (called, maybe More Fear?!?).

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fear-trump-in-the-white-house-by-bob-woodward-book-review/feed/0Café Stories by David Makin (Book review)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/cafe-stories-by-david-makin-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/cafe-stories-by-david-makin-book-review/#respondFri, 09 Nov 2018 13:56:40 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=52760Café Stories – There is nothing like how a simple cup of coffee can have such power to be a catalyst for some simple socialization and interaction between people. And when you have it at your favourite public place – whether it be a Starbucks, a Tim Hortons or a small independent coffee shop – […]

]]>Café Stories – There is nothing like how a simple cup of coffee can have such power to be a catalyst for some simple socialization and interaction between people. And when you have it at your favourite public place – whether it be a Starbucks, a Tim Hortons or a small independent coffee shop – that cup of coffee can also be a catalyst for some interesting conversations.

Local author David Makin has had his share of cups of coffee in his share of public cafes in downtown Montreal over the past 40 years, not to mention his share of conversations between sips of his favourite types of brewed java. And he has shared some of his favourite coffee klatches in his latest book Café Stories.

The book is a collection of autobiographical stories of 40 years’ worth of strolling along St. Catherine Street and stopping off at his favourite coffee places to grab a hot cup of coffee after doing some shopping, walking or catching a concert. Some of the places are familiar (like Café Depot) and some are long lost relics of the pre-Starbucks era, such as Le Den and Café St. Catherine.

But the common thread of all the stories in the book are of the conversations Makin has had – or has eavesdropped – while enjoying that cup of coffee. They range from a post-concert review with his brother Robert of a show by Styx at the Montreal Forum; a chat between a visiting Vermont couple trying to find where they could partake in Montreal’s best hot dog; a gossipy chat between two young women over a home date gone wrong (which involved a jealous ex-boyfriend); or the career of former Montreal Canadiens goalie (and Hall of Famer) Gump Worsley, who had the distinction of being the last NHL goalie to wear a face mask.

The stories are quite well told and entertaining to read (and how Makin has such a photographic-type memory to remember these conversations practically word-for-word is quite astounding). As well, he exhibits quite the penchant for trivia (listing some of the Montreal Forum’s more memorable moments), a unique way of showing gratitude (check out his story of how he thanked a very helpful salesclerk named Sharron at the Delilah accessory store at the Alexis Nihon Plaza), as well as his knowledge of how to make different types of coffee beverages (which can be quite helpful if you want to make your own cup of cappuccino or latte).

So if you like a good cup of coffee in a comforting café setting, or enjoy a good chat with a friend or companion over that cup of java, then bring Café Stories with you. It’s a perfect compliment for your coffee break as much as that pastry or muffin, or that right dash of cream and sugar You’ll discover what can transpire for the better over that simple cup (or mug, or demi-tasse) of that universally popular hot beverage.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/cafe-stories-by-david-makin-book-review/feed/0Meant To Be by Roslyn Franken (Book Review)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/meant-to-be-by-roslyn-franken-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/meant-to-be-by-roslyn-franken-book-review/#respondSun, 28 Oct 2018 17:48:13 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=52599Meant To Be by Roslyn Franken – Roslyn Franken, a native Montrealer who is an author and motivational speaker, has an interesting story of survival to tell in her latest book Meant To Be. It’s an amazing story of survival against all odds from both the European and Pacific theatres of World War II. Her […]

]]>Meant To Be by Roslyn Franken – Roslyn Franken, a native Montrealer who is an author and motivational speaker, has an interesting story of survival to tell in her latest book Meant To Be.

It’s an amazing story of survival against all odds from both the European and Pacific theatres of World War II. Her father John, who was born in Indonesia, was a recruit for the Dutch Navy in the Dutch East Indies during the war when he was captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. Her mother Sonja was born in the Netherlands and when the Nazis invaded Holland in 1940, she was put in a slave labor camp and later sent to Auschwitz. But what makes their separate survival stories so amazing were the somewhat fortunate circumstances that befell upon them that enabled their survival. John was sent to Nagasaki to work in the mines there; in fact, he was working deep in the mines when the U.S. dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki in August of 1945; Sonja was sent to certain death in the gas chambers of Auschwitz three times and it was during those three times she escaped that certain death (including one instance of the chamber running out of the deadly zyklon B gas when it was her turn, and was sent back to barracks with her group).

Ms. Franken attributes these strokes of luck in the lives of her father and mother on opposite ends of this deadly conflict to a simple concept: “meant to be”. In fact, this concept dominates the reasons how and why her parents met (which led to their marriage in 1960), and how the entire family faced and successfully conquered other personal challenges, including a major heart attack and two battles with cancer.

As well, the book also serves as a motivational and inspirational text to how one can survive adversity and challenges not only through “meant to be”, but also through other life concept such as the power of appreciation, the power of perseverance, and the power of choice.

Roslyn Franken has given us an awe-inspiring, incredible story of love and survival with Meant To Be that will leave you not only with a feeling of inspiration, but a feeling of amazement at how such simple, positive attitudes can lead to overcoming things when the odds can sometimes be overwhelmingly against you. As Ms. Franken writes in the conclusion of her book:

“If people around the world could use their conscious might for desired good, believe that miracles are available to us if we also make ourselves available to them, and remember that things are perhaps meant to be, then this world could be a better place.”

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/meant-to-be-by-roslyn-franken-book-review/feed/0My Father’s Store and Other Stories by Mary Ann Lichacz-Karwatsky (Book Review)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/my-fathers-store-and-other-stories-by-mary-ann-lichacz-karwatsky-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/my-fathers-store-and-other-stories-by-mary-ann-lichacz-karwatsky-book-review/#respondSun, 28 Oct 2018 15:37:59 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=52596My Father’s Store and Other Stories – Stories of the immigrant experience to North America over the past 175 years – no matter what country of origin these newcomers arrived from – are always fascinating and inspiring. Basically, it’s leaving one’s homeland to escape hardship or oppression, and arrive either in the U.S. or Canada […]

]]>My Father’s Store and Other Stories – Stories of the immigrant experience to North America over the past 175 years – no matter what country of origin these newcomers arrived from – are always fascinating and inspiring. Basically, it’s leaving one’s homeland to escape hardship or oppression, and arrive either in the U.S. or Canada for a new life. And through hard work, determination and conquering many obstacles, that dream of a better life in a new place becomes a reality.

That’s the case with Mary Ann Lichacz-Karawatsky, a retired guidance counsellor with the EMSB (English Montreal School Board) and mother of CTV News Montreal co-anchor Paul Karwatsky. Her father Wasyl “Bill” Lichacz came to Canada from his native Ukraine in 1928, when he was only nine years old. Not knowing how to speak neither English nor French upon his arrival, “Bill” made a go for himself in his new home of Montreal, married a French Canadian girl from Pointe St. Charles and in 1946, bought a grocery store on 12th Avenue in the burgeoning North East End Montreal suburb of Rosemount.

This combination grocery and general store was typical of the mom & pop corner stores that dotted a lot of Montreal neighbourhoods before the era of strip malls and big box stores. It not only sold grocery essentials, but also school supplies, comic books, sewing supplies, candy, soda pop, beer and a wide selection of meats, cold cuts and baked goods that gave European immigrant residents of the area a taste of their homeland.

That grocery store in that Rosemount neighbourhood is the focal point of Karwatsky’s recently published book My Father’s Store. It’s a collection of autobiographical stories in which she takes a fond look back at how her parents ran the store (and how she spent much of her spare time when she was younger helping out when there were a rush of customers), and the personal touch that they gave to their faithful customers that helped to make the Lichacz Grocery the go-to place to get much needed groceries or other types of goods for individuals and families.

However, her father’s store is not the only focus of this collection. Karwatsky also offers reminiscences of growing up in a developing Montreal suburb during the 50s and 60s, where a trip on the beige Beaubien MTC trolley bus to St. Hubert Street for a shopping trip was a day’s outing, or the nearby Blue Bird Café was a favorite hangout of bikers and biker gangs, or how one can be too well prepared for an upcoming Debate Club tournament at Holy Names High School.

As well, Karwatsky deviates from the store to tell about her own life, first as a globetrotting McGill student (especially her escapades in Spain and Tangier during the early 70s, which she was inspired by James A. Michener’s novel The Drifters), and some of the interesting cases she dealt with during her lengthy career as a high school guidance counsellor (including a “stand off” with four teenage boys with an alleged drug problem, whose only goal was to graduate from high school without any trouble).

The stories in this book are well crafted and well written, and offers a fond look back at life in a Montreal suburb that evolved from farm land to residential neighbourhood, and what living the post World War II Canadian dream was like as seen through the comings and goings at Mary Ann Lichacz-Karwatsky’s father’s Rosemont corner grocery store.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/my-fathers-store-and-other-stories-by-mary-ann-lichacz-karwatsky-book-review/feed/0The Making of the October Crisis (Book review)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-making-of-the-october-crisis-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-making-of-the-october-crisis-book-review/#respondFri, 19 Oct 2018 17:00:29 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=52371The Making of the October Crisis – On the morning of October 5, 1970, senior British trade commissioner to Montreal James Cross was forcibly kidnapped from his Westmount home by members of the Liberation Cell of the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ); one of their chief demands in exchange for Cross’ life was for […]

]]>The Making of the October Crisis – On the morning of October 5, 1970, senior British trade commissioner to Montreal James Cross was forcibly kidnapped from his Westmount home by members of the Liberation Cell of the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ); one of their chief demands in exchange for Cross’ life was for the Quebec government to release a number of FLQ “political prisoners” who have been jailed since 1963.

The Making of the October Crisis

Five days later, after the provincial government of Premier Robert Bourassa – through its Justice Minister Jerome Choquette – announced that they would refuse to meet the kidnappers’ demands, Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped outside his home in St. Lambert by members of the FLQ’s Chenier Cell.

These two political kidnappings formed the basis of what came to be known as the “October Crisis”. And throughout this controversial, dark two-month period in Canadian history, a palpable sense of fear gripped the country, as certain events and images became etched in the minds of people in Montreal, Quebec and Canada: Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau telling a reporter “Just watch me” outside the House of Commons before he proclaimed the War Measures Act, the presence of armed Canadian soldiers in the streets of Montreal, the discovery of Laporte’s body in the trunk of a car at the St. Hubert airbase, and the convoy of cars to the Expo 67 site on December 3 that lead to the safe release of Cross and the eventual passage of his kidnappers to exile in Cuba.

However, the events of October 1970 that practically put Canada into a state of siege by the FLQ did not begin and end during the crisis. It began with a series of mailbox bombings in Westmount in the spring of 1963, and this campaign of terror and violence by the FLQ practically continued off and on throughout the rest of the 1960s. Journalist D’Arcy Jenish, who has written several best selling books that dealt with the history of the Montreal Canadiens, the Stanley Cup and the life of 18th century explorer and map maker David Thompson, has written a thorough examination about the October Crisis and the violent events that led up to it – as well as its aftermath – in his latest book The Making of the October Crisis.

In a recent phone interview, Jenish stated that the genesis of his book came from an article that he wrote about the October Crisis, which was publish in the October 2010 issue of Legion magazine. “I got the chance to interview Robert Cote for the article, and he represented the law enforcement side as head of the Montreal Police Department bomb squad during this violent period between 1963 and 1970. He told me about the waves of bombings that occurred during that time, and how he busted the many rings of the FLQ,” he said. “When I was ready to write the book, Cote, who had all of his documents detailing his investigations of the bombings, introduced me to other Montreal police detectives who worked alongside him. And they had a lot of other documents themselves that helped to add to the story of the FLQ during the 60s.”

Jenish firmly believes that his mission to write the book was because he felt he had to present a factual, balanced account of the October Crisis and why it happened, because the current generation of Canadians have very little knowledge and understanding of this crucial event in modern Canadian history. “For many, what they only remember about the October Crisis are the War Measures Act and the ‘occupation of Quebec’ by the Canadian Army, which was absurd, because the first regiment to reach Montreal was the Royal 22nd Regiment (the Van Doos), who were based near Quebec City. Many intellectuals and politicians used the October Crisis basically as a means to suit their own political agenda or strengthen the sovereignty movement during the 70s. However, this story is not just history on the hoof; it’s much larger than that,” he said.

During the course of his extensive research for the book, Jenish unearthed a treasure trove of information that has been rarely seen since their original publication during the 60s … copies of the FLQ’s newsletters “La Cognee” and “La Victoire”. “Those two newsletters helped to keep the fires stoked within the FLQ; it was the glue that held it together,” he said. “And combined with the intellectual leadership of people like Pierre Vallieres, the FLQ managed to keep the people of Quebec stirred up and easily pushed their young members into action.”

But what compelled the FLQ to switch from bombings and bank robberies to kidnapping in 1970? Jenish believed they were inspired by a series of turbulent events in Latin America, where a great deal of political kidnappings took place at the time. “They were also inspired by the literature that was produced there, especially the Minimanual of the Urban Guerilla by Brazilian revolutionary Carlos Marighella,” he said. “And by 1970, the FLQ believed that bombings became counter productive; how can you advance your cause if you keep blowing yourself up? That’s why they turned to kidnapping.”

And nearly 50 years since the tragic events of October 1970 occurred in Montreal at the hands of the FLQ, Jenish believes that the legacy of the October Crisis is to teach future generations of Canadians that sometimes extreme examples or turmoil and turbulence can happen in Canada. “Canada is a difficult country to govern, and sometimes things do happen that can be way off everybody’s charts,” he said. “It gives us a stark reminder that bad things can happen here; however, our government, through a lot of common sense, can deal with things like this without tearing the fabric of our country apart.”

The Making of the October Crisis is a book that finally gives a complete, well-rounded, factual account of one of the most darkest times in modern Canadian history, and the seven-and-a-half violent years that led up to October Crisis, from every bombing and robbery that took place, to the origins of the FLQ, to the all the major figures on both sides of the story that moved things to its tragic conclusion during that October of 1970. As well, Jenish provides rare insight to the raison d’etre of the FLQ, its intellectual base, how the kidnappers spent a less-than-ideal exile in Cuba and Paris, and how the kidnappers were worshipped as heroes and patriots by a younger generation of Quebecers that helped to galvanize the Parti Quebecois’ historic victory in the 1976 provincial election campaign.

This is a historically fascinating, frightening book that should serve as a stark reminder that such an example of urban terrorism should never happen again in Canada.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-making-of-the-october-crisis-book-review/feed/0Bibliophile by Jane Mount (Book review)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/bibliophile-by-jane-mount-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/bibliophile-by-jane-mount-book-review/#respondMon, 15 Oct 2018 15:14:19 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=52240Bibliophile – Over the past 20 years or so, there has been an ever-growing trend of appreciating books. Not just the fact that we like to read a certain book or literary genre, but why we like to read them (sometimes reading certain titles over and over again). This literary appreciation that has turned us […]

]]>Bibliophile – Over the past 20 years or so, there has been an ever-growing trend of appreciating books. Not just the fact that we like to read a certain book or literary genre, but why we like to read them (sometimes reading certain titles over and over again).

This literary appreciation that has turned us not into just bookworms, but bibliophiles, has been exemplified by the multitude of book clubs, book readings and author appearances at bookstores, and book appreciation programs like PBS’ recent series “The Great American Read”.

American illustrator Jane Mount knows how to appreciate books, both as a literary and aesthetic masterpiece. Her website (and companion book) “Ideal Bookshelf” takes an individual’s list of all-time favourite books and turn them into a personalized painting that resembles how it would look like it they were placed on a typical bookshelf (and for most part, she portrays the books in question quite faithfully according to their respective original dust jacket artworks).

And now, Ms. Mount has put together a volume that combines the literary and artistic appreciation of great books that bookworms and avid readers alike must have on their bookshelves, Bibliophile.

From cover to cover, it’s a colourful, eye-catching celebration of the books we read and loved over the years, the people who wrote them, the places where they are stored and bought, and some various nuggets of literary and book trivia.

Most of the book is taken up with recommended books to read in a wide range of genres (such as history, kids’ picture books, graphic novels, novels about food, regional cookbooks, novels of the early 1900s and Dystopia, to name a few). Each highlighted genre gets the Ideal Bookshelf treatment, with a stack of selected titles lovingly and accurately illustrated according to current or original dust jacket artwork, along with interesting factual tidbits about some of the selected books (my favorite deals with Barbara W. Tuchman’s classic 1962 account about the beginnings of the First World War The Guns of August, especially how it influenced President John F. Kennedy on the way he handled the on-the-brink Cuban Missile Crisis; Kennedy liked the book so much that after the crisis, he gave out copies to friends and visiting dignitaries).

As well, you find out about a number of beloved bookstores from around the world (including my favourite The Strand in New York City; even Montreal’s Drawn & Quarterly bookstore on Bernard Street gets a mention); libraries that are just as striking for their architecture as their book collections; the private, customized rooms where such literary greats as James Baldwin, George Bernard Shaw and Jane Austen did their writing; the top 10 best selling books of all time (by the way, Don Quixote is at #1, not The Bible); the anatomy of a physical book; the all time iconic book cover designs; memorable literary cats; pets of famous writers (including John Steinbeck’s pet poodle Charley); and songs that were based on great books (such as Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad”, which was inspired by The Grapes of Wrath).

Bibliophile is a book that every avid reader and book lover must own, and deftly serves as both a visually stunning coffee table book and reader’s reference. It not only shows that the physical book is a thing of beauty both aesthetically and prose-wise, but opens so many doors to what other titles you haven’t heard about before – or have wanted to read for so long but never had the time to do so – and explore much deeper into the wonderful world of books and the people who have written and appreciated them.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/bibliophile-by-jane-mount-book-review/feed/0Kaptain Robbie Knievel, Daredevil and son of legendary Stunt performer Evel Knievel, announces new book & film in 2019http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/entertainment/kaptain-robbie-knievel-daredevil-and-son-of-legendary-stunt-performer-evel-knievel-announces-new-book-film-in-2019/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/entertainment/kaptain-robbie-knievel-daredevil-and-son-of-legendary-stunt-performer-evel-knievel-announces-new-book-film-in-2019/#respondWed, 12 Sep 2018 19:44:53 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=51673Kaptain Robbie Knievel, iconic daredevil and son of legendary stunt performer Evel Knievel, is keeping busy in 2019. Knievel is set to star in an upcoming feature film – Blood Red Snow – set to be officially announced soon. The feature film arrives hot off the heels of Knievel’s upcoming book detailing his life story, […]

]]>Kaptain Robbie Knievel, iconic daredevil and son of legendary stunt performer Evel Knievel, is keeping busy in 2019. Knievel is set to star in an upcoming feature film – Blood Red Snow – set to be officially announced soon. The feature film arrives hot off the heels of Knievel’s upcoming book detailing his life story, Knievelution: Son of Evel, in stores early 2019.

In Blood Red Snow, Kaptain Robbie Knievel plays Brody James, a former Iraq warrior turned vigilante justice dealer. Knievel is pleased to announce that Dark Horse Customs (DHC), the legendary muscle car builder that Knievel is endorsed by, built the car he drives in the film – the MADD MAXX Mustang. The car is the prototype for DHC’s upcoming “545 Legend” series of custom builds, set to launch to the public in 2019. Dark Horse is world renowned for its 69 Mustangs with their low mean styling and posture and incredible power built into their 545 big block engines.

“I’ve driven Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s and all kinds of muscle cars, but nothing has harnessed more raw power and driveability than this new Legend car,” says Kaptain Robbie Knievel.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/entertainment/kaptain-robbie-knievel-daredevil-and-son-of-legendary-stunt-performer-evel-knievel-announces-new-book-film-in-2019/feed/0The President is Missing (Book Review)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-president-is-missing-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-president-is-missing-book-review/#respondFri, 07 Sep 2018 14:29:11 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=51509The President is Missing – When a head of state leaves office after serving their respective nation for a number of years, one of the first activities they usually undertake is writing; writing books, that is. This is certainly true when it comes to former U.S. Presidents. It usually comes in the form of a […]

]]>The President is Missing – When a head of state leaves office after serving their respective nation for a number of years, one of the first activities they usually undertake is writing; writing books, that is.

This is certainly true when it comes to former U.S. Presidents. It usually comes in the form of a memoir. Grant, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and George W. Bush have penned presidential memoirs. Nixon supplemented that with a bunch of political and biographical tomes. However, no former American president has ever attempted to pen a work of fiction (in fact, the closest to that was former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, who about 40 years ago wrote a best selling political thriller called The Canfield Decision).

That is, until Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, came into the picture.

This past June, Clinton, along with mega best selling novelist James Patterson, joined forces to produce a political thriller called The President Is Missing. The novel was an immediate success. It was a #1 New York Times best seller for several weeks, and just last week, the CBS News Sunday Morning program proclaimed it as the top selling book of the summer of 2018.

Probably the biggest book that Patterson has written (128 chapters, 513 pages in length), The President Is Missing focuses on Jonathan (John) Lincoln Duncan, the current Commander-in-Chief who has been a fighter practically all his life in public. An Iraqi War veteran who endured harsh circumstances as a POW, fighting a blood disorder, and coping with the death of his wife from cancer, Duncan is now facing the fight of his political life, as he is about to testify in front of a House Select Committee that is chaired by the dangerously ambitious Speaker of the House Lester Rhodes, who not only wants to connect him to international terrorist Suliman Cindoruk, but also wants to have him impeached from the Oval Office.

In order to combat Cindoruk and his nefarious terrorist plans against America, Duncan decides to have himself go “missing”. Disguising himself and stealing himself away to an undisclosed location somewhere in Maryland, Duncan enlists the aid of two allies – the Chancellor of Germany and the Prime Minister of Israel – as well as a defecting terrorist and several trusted members of his staff, to try and stop a computer virus called “Dark Ages” that Cindoruk plans to unleash upon the U.S. that could have catastrophic results for the country and its people. And while this small group of individuals are desperately trying to locate and stop this virus from being unleashed, a master female assassin named “Bach” lies in waiting to gun down the president.

For Clinton’s fictional literary debut, The President Is Missing is a pretty decent start. Although it’s a little slow at the beginning, the pace picks up as President Duncan and his small staff undergo this race against time to disable the virus, not to mention to try and discover which member of his cabinet has committed a major act of treason. As well, the reader can easily detect which parts of the book have been written by Clinton, which parts have been written by Patterson, and which parts the duo have put their heads together to write up.

Although it may not rank up there with such classic political novels like Advise and Consent and Seven Days in May, The President Is Missing still makes for a good escapist read, with plenty of intrigue, thrills, conspiracies, violence and the customary plot twists at the end. With the tremendous success of this book, maybe the team of Bill Clinton and James Patterson should continue to explore the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. with their hero President John Duncan, now that he is no longer “missing”.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-president-is-missing-book-review/feed/0Hollywood Heyday by David Fantle and Tom Johnson (Book Review)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/hollywood-heyday-by-david-fantle-and-tom-johnson-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/hollywood-heyday-by-david-fantle-and-tom-johnson-book-review/#respondMon, 27 Aug 2018 18:12:04 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=51039Hollywood Heyday – There’s an old saying that classic movie buffs always lament, in which “they don’t make movies like that anymore.” Although it does apply to the quality of movies that were produced and released during Hollywood’s golden age from the 1920s to the 1950s, it can also apply to the caliber of legendary […]

]]>Hollywood Heyday – There’s an old saying that classic movie buffs always lament, in which “they don’t make movies like that anymore.”

Although it does apply to the quality of movies that were produced and released during Hollywood’s golden age from the 1920s to the 1950s, it can also apply to the caliber of legendary actors and actresses who appeared in them. For many, those performers who graced the silver screen like Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe could be genuinely regarded as “movie stars”.

Back in 1978, David Fantle and Tom Johnson were two high school graduates from St. Paul, Minnesota who had a passion for classic movies from that golden age in Hollywood. Rather to be just content with watching those movies on their local TV station’s late, late show and conducting special screenings at senior residences, the duo decided to take the next step and conduct interviews with as many of these surviving silver screen legends that they would publish in the student newspaper at the University of Minnesota, where they were just accepted.

With a lot of grit, determination and ambition, Fantle and Johnson persistently contacted many of these legends through numerous phone calls and carefully written letters (remember, this was way before the internet and text messaging were around to provide a major source of instantaneous personal communication). Somehow, their persistence paid off, as both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly agreed to be interviewed by them. And through a lot of scrimping, saving and resourcefulness, made the trip to Hollywood to conduct these initial interviews of their screen dreams.

With Astaire and Kelly as their launching points, the team of Fantle and Johnson managed to conduct over 250 interviews over the past 40 years with many of these screen legends from Hollywood’s golden age … and how they landed these interviews are just as fascinating as what their subjects had to say about their careers as movie stars.

Fantle and Johnson have accomplished the arduous task of sifting through these 250 interviews to select 75 of them to become part of their deeply fascinating book Hollywood Heyday.

The book is a collection of these stand-out interviews with not only actors, but also writers, directors, composers, choreographers and journalists who played a vital part in building Hollywood’s golden age. And the list of celebrities who are featured in the book is quite impressive (and would fill a multitude of theatre marquees, to say the least): George Burns, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Vincente Minelli, Shirley Jones, Esther Williams, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Hoagy Carmichael, James Cagney, Janet Leigh, and of course, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, as a sort of short list.

What I found so striking about Hollywood Heyday were two things. First of all, how Fantle and Johnson’s passion for classic Hollywood movies and penchant for research evolved into questions that got their interview subjects to open up about their respective careers in Hollywood, and in some respects, reveal some of the interesting and quirky aspects of their personalities. For example, DeForest Kelley admitted that he was a rather self-described lazy actor, and that after “Star Trek” was cancelled by NBC, realized he could make more money doing personal appearances at Star Trek conventions than accepting acting parts on TV; composer Andre Previn admitted that Gene Kelly was difficult to work with, and was very set in his ways when it came to musical numbers and dance routines, whereas co-director Stanley Donen was more flexible and open to discussions and suggestions; director Mervyn LeRoy (“Little Caesar”, “Mister Roberts”) was barely communicative when he was interviewed, and the duo deduced the reason why LeRoy had over 130 framed autographed movie stills on his walls (and more stored in a metal filing cabinet) was that he would rather let those photos do the talking for him about his stellar career as a director during the early days of the talkies.

Second, their strong penchant for observing the environment and the circumstances that surrounded them during each interview were just as interesting as the subjects themselves. For a good deal of the long surviving legends who were profiled by Fantle and Johnson, it almost has a Norma Desmond/Sunset Boulevard quality to them, and are indicative of the fading glory they were experiencing, at times not realizing that their years of superstardom were way behind them or were shielded by domineering or oblivious handlers. One sad instance of the latter was their interview with James Cagney at his Coldwater Canyon home about 40 years ago, in which they were almost rebuffed by Marge Zimmerman, Cagney’s personal assistant at the time, who was later embroiled in controversy when she was accused of leeching off Cagney for her own personal profit, which was later reported in an article in Life magazine.

Hollywood Heyday is a riveting collection of profiles that give a rather stark, humanistic look at these selected 75 Hollywood legends (both in front of and behind the screen), and how the motion picture capitol functioned in the days when the studios like MGM, Warner Bros., Paramount and Universal ruled like kings, and its stars were their loyal subjects. It’s almost like a living embodiment of Norma Desmond’s immortal line from “Sunset Boulevard”, in which these stars are still big in the hearts and minds of their fans … it’s the just the pictures that got small.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/hollywood-heyday-by-david-fantle-and-tom-johnson-book-review/feed/0Former Montreal Times columnist-turned-bestselling author Chloe Bellande returns for book signinghttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/former-montreal-times-columnist-turned-bestselling-author-chloe-bellande-returns-for-book-signing/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/former-montreal-times-columnist-turned-bestselling-author-chloe-bellande-returns-for-book-signing/#respondThu, 16 Aug 2018 13:32:22 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=50793Chloe Bellande – Former Montreal Times columnist-turned-bestselling author, screenwriter and film editor Chloe Bellande will be returning to Montreal to host a book singing and cocktail reception on: September 16 at the Renaissance Montreal Centre-Ville Hotel, located at 1250 Robert Bourassa Boulevard. Ms. Bellande will be signing copies of her recently-published book Invincible: How To […]

]]>Chloe Bellande – Former Montreal Times columnist-turned-bestselling author, screenwriter and film editor Chloe Bellande will be returning to Montreal to host a book singing and cocktail reception on:

September 16 at the Renaissance Montreal Centre-Ville Hotel, located at 1250 Robert Bourassa Boulevard.

Ms. Bellande will be signing copies of her recently-published book Invincible: How To Embrace Failure and Achieve Transformational Success. Published by Elite Publishing, Invincible tells the individual stories of 14 women who have shown fearlessness and fierceness as they have succeeded in their lives and careers with a great degree of authenticity and vulnerability, while aiding others who are striving to survive and succeed.

It is highly recommended that for those who are interested in attending the event, they should purchase copies of the book in advance by going to:

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/former-montreal-times-columnist-turned-bestselling-author-chloe-bellande-returns-for-book-signing/feed/0The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddishhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-last-black-unicorn-by-tiffany-haddish/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-last-black-unicorn-by-tiffany-haddish/#respondThu, 02 Aug 2018 14:26:58 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=50257Tiffany Haddish – When he was about to present Tiffany Haddish with the Comedy Person of the Year Award last month at the annual Just For Laughs Awards Show, comedian Kevin Hart praised her for all that she has accomplished – and what she is about to accomplish – after her long, tough road to […]

]]>Tiffany Haddish – When he was about to present Tiffany Haddish with the Comedy Person of the Year Award last month at the annual Just For Laughs Awards Show, comedian Kevin Hart praised her for all that she has accomplished – and what she is about to accomplish – after her long, tough road to success as a comedian, which he believes has made a lot of her fellow women comics quite proud of her.

After her rough upbringing in one of the poorest neighborhoods of South Central L.A., Haddish believes that getting into the world of comedy – and associating herself with other comics like Hart and Jo Koy, whom she regarded like dear friends as well as peers – basically saved her life.

From there, Haddish has become one of the hottest comics around today, with appearances on “The Carmichael Show”, “Def Comedy Jam”, “Girls Trip” and her own comedy special entitled “She Ready”. To find out how she travelled that difficult road to such comedy stardom, it’s all explained in unabashed detail in her best selling memoir The Last Black Unicorn.

When you read the book, you get the feeling that Haddish’s upbringing was Dickensian in nature at the very least. Her father abandoned his family when she was young; her mother survived a horrendous car accident that left her with severe brain damage; she spent time in a foster care facility when her grandmother wasn’t able to look after Haddish and her siblings; and she went through a series of relationships that were dysfunctional at best.

However, through a great deal of resilience and street smarts, Haddish managed to survive such harsh circumstances throughout her life. She made good money as a dancing animator for a DJ who performed at weddings and bar mitzvahs (her almost contact-like dance with an elderly relative at one bar mitzvah led to his death by a heart attack; instead of getting fired, the DJ kept her on staff and gave her a raise because, he reasoned, “was probably the first time he ever danced with a black girl in his life. It was the happiest moment of his life”), she worked at an airline ticket counter at LAX, and all the while, honed her skills as a stand-up comic.

But what makes this book such an enjoyable read (and at times will make you laugh out so loud, you will have to put the book down for a few minutes to catch your breath) is Haddish’s tendency to liberally pepper the text with word-for-word dialogue that fleshes out the incidents and stories that make up her life, which could be the premise for a future solo show, or a movie by Spike Lee or Tyler Perry (or a semi-autobiographical biopic in the ame vein as Richard Pryor’s “Jo Jo Dancer, You’re Life is Calling”). The dialogues are quite pointed and explicit (many of which cannot be reprinted for quoting purposes), but gives an honest portrayal of the anger and fighting spirited that makes up the character of Tiffany Haddish. For example, when she was in foster care, she was the constant target of bullies, but decided to use humour to keep them at bay. Here is one quotable example:

Haddish had to admit that although those bullies found her quite funny, she still got beaten up by them.

And there are plenty of stories that she shares with the reader that range from the outrageous to the heartfelt, from how she “pimped” the girl who had an affair with Haddish’s boyfriend Titus (she got her well-paying jobs doing porn films), to her affair with “Roscoe the Handicapped Angel”, who worked with her at the airport as a baggage handler, which gave him a great deal of self-confidence.

The Last Black Unicorn is a brutally-honest, in-your-face memoir of a comedian who started with nothing but hardship, and through a strong will and a never forgiving sense of humour, made Tiffany Haddish not only a comedy superstar, but a true survivor. Unlike the unicorn that is suggested in the title, Tiffany Haddish is not an object of fantasy, but an individual who is the real deal. And after what she has been through so far, Haddish has become quite gracious and full of reflection, which is displayed at the end of the book, in which she writes:

“I believe my purpose is to bring joy to the people, to make them laugh, and to share my story to help them. To show people that no matter what, they matter, and they can succeed. No matter how bad things go, no matter how dark your life is, there is a reason for it. You can find beauty in it, and you can get better. I know, because I’ve done it.

That’s why my comedy so often comes from my pain. N my life, and I hope in yours, I want us to grow roses out of the poop.”

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-last-black-unicorn-by-tiffany-haddish/feed/0Paul Simon: The Life by Robert Hilburnhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/paul-simon-the-life-by-robert-hilburn/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/paul-simon-the-life-by-robert-hilburn/#respondFri, 06 Jul 2018 16:46:01 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=49445Paul Simon: The Life – If Paul Simon had not become one of the greatest singer/songwriters to come out of the 1960s, he probably would have chosen to become a professional baseball player. Those dreams of glory on the baseball diamond (which could have led to wearing the famed pinstripes of the New York Yankees) […]

]]>Paul Simon: The Life – If Paul Simon had not become one of the greatest singer/songwriters to come out of the 1960s, he probably would have chosen to become a professional baseball player.

Those dreams of glory on the baseball diamond (which could have led to wearing the famed pinstripes of the New York Yankees) were put in the mind of the young Paul Simon as early as 1958, when he did the impossible and stole home at a game, which led to victory for his Forest Hills High School baseball team.

However, as the 50s progressed into the 60s, Simon decided to put down the bat and glove and pick up the guitar and pen instead. The end result is a career in music that has spanned over six decades, in which his penchant for high standards in composing, singing and recording music has produced some of the most unforgettable (and still much listened-to) songs that have been produced during the last half of the 20th century – whether it be on his own or together with Art Garfunkel – such as “Sounds of Silence”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, “The Boxer”, “Boy in the Bubble”, “Still Crazy After All These Years” and “Graceland”. These songs have not only found a place in our ears and our hearts, but also in our conscience as well, which is why Paul Simon’s music has transcended so many generations of artists and fans alike.

But just as fascinating about Paul Simon’s life and career is not only what he has produced musically, but what has motivated him and drove him to create such memorable tunes that earned him countless Grammys, a Kennedy Center Honours, two inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame. This is what pop music critic Robert Hilburn has explained in his absorbing biography Paul Simon: The Life.

What the reader gets from this biography is a portrait of Paul Simon as a rather low-key, yet intense musical genius. A native New Yorker who virtually had music in his blood (his father, Lou Simon, was a renowned band leader and upright bass player during the big band era, and was a fixture at the legendary Roseland Ballroom). Simon’s impatience at getting a college education, and somehow being unable to break through the thriving folk music scene in Greenwich Village, he crossed the Atlantic to England, where he found his niche in a nascent folk music scene, not to mention a relationship with one Kathy Chitty, who became his muse and inspiration for many of the famous tunes he would record with Art Garfunkel throughout the mid and late 60s (including “Homeward Bound” and “America”).

One of the most interesting parts of the book is the on again, off again professional relationship with Garfunkel (who performed together since 1957, and had a minor hit that year with “Hey, Schoolgirl”, which was recorded under the stage name “Tom and Jerry”). This was the story of two distinct personalities with two distinct working habits. The end result was a very tempestuous relationship that not only produced a catalogue of timeless songs, but a great deal of professional and personal clashes that resulted in a series of breakups and reconciliations (one of the best known was in 1969, when Garfunkel abruptly left the “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” album recording sessions for roles in the films “Catch-22” and “Carnal Knowledge”).

Then there’s Paul Simon the musician as musical re-inventor. Somehow no matter what personal or professional triumphs or setbacks he experienced, Paul Simon can give himself credit for having the uncanny ability to bounce back and come up with a new album that further strengthens his artistic reputation at times when his contemporaries were ready to write him off as a thing of the past. This was quite evident with the work he committed towards the creation of his two landmark solo albums “Graceland” and “The Rhythm of the Saints” – which he did to recover from the musical debacles that were “One Trick Pony” and “Hearts and Bones” – and the end result was not only two best-selling and Grammy Award winning albums, but also helped to expose two aspects of world music (South Africa and Brazil) for the first time to North American audiences.

Hilburn has done an exceptional job crafting Paul Simon’s story into such a highly readable biography. And he has accomplished it by getting Simon to open up to him thanks to over 100 hours of personal interviews, and as an added bonus, gives the reader a chance to peak into the creative process of how Simon got the inspiration to develop many of his best known songs; when he is finished telling the story behind the song, he furnishes us with the complete lyrics, so that we can marvel at what came about from such an arduous process. It’s almost like viewing a famous painter’s masterpiece in a museum, and getting all the hidden messages behind it to why it is such a work of art.

Paul Simon: The Life is the closest thing we will ever get to a memoir from this important voice in modern music. Thanks to Robert Hilburn, we get to know the many faces and voices of this multi-faceted and multi-talented individual, so we don’t have to mournfully proclaim out loud a la “where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” For the sake of those who grew up with Paul Simon’s songbook – and the subsequent generations who will discover him – they now know.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/paul-simon-the-life-by-robert-hilburn/feed/0Robin Williams who was a mass of pain, self-doubt – Book Reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/robin-williams-who-was-a-mass-of-pain-self-doubt-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/robin-williams-who-was-a-mass-of-pain-self-doubt-book-review/#respondFri, 29 Jun 2018 15:48:34 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=49160Robin Williams – In 1922, legendary comedian W.C. Fields had this to say about fellow comedian and vaudevillian (and Ziegfeld Follies co-star) Bert Williams when he passed away that year: “He was the funniest man I ever saw, and was the saddest man I ever met”. Those remarks that was uttered by Fields nearly a […]

]]>Robin Williams – In 1922, legendary comedian W.C. Fields had this to say about fellow comedian and vaudevillian (and Ziegfeld Follies co-star) Bert Williams when he passed away that year: “He was the funniest man I ever saw, and was the saddest man I ever met”.

Those remarks that was uttered by Fields nearly a century ago about Bert Williams can ironically be applied to another comedian sharing the same surname: Robin Williams.

During his productive career as a comedian and actor, Robin Williams has charmed and entertained millions of fans around the world with his manic, runaway train-style of stand-up comedy, his critically-acclaimed performances in such movies as “Good Morning, Vietnam”, “Dead Poets Society”, “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Aladdin”; and of course, the role that launched it all, that of the visiting alien from the planet Ork on the ABC hit sitcom “Mork and Mindy”.

Yet through all those memorable performances – and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Good Will Hunting” – Robin Williams lived a life that was filled with so much emotional and physical pain, whether it be endless self-doubt, a constant drubbing from critics, drug addiction and alcoholism, and finally, a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia – a severe degenerative neurological disease – that compelled him to take his own life in August of 2014 at the age of 63.

Robin Williams was, sadly enough, a living embodiment of the tragicomic nature of the comedian, yet he was such a complex individual as much as he was an entertaining one. However, it was his eldest son Zak who somehow managed to comprehend the true nature of his father at a memorial service that was held a little more than a month after his death:

Robin by David Itzkoff Book Cover-min

“Eater of cold chicken breast, drinker of espresso, lover of bumper stickers. I’d like to speak about the man who was a paradox. The alien. I feel the overwhelming joy he brought millions, and I felt his abject loneliness. He was at once so superhuman and yet so very human. But I don’t think he ever felt he was anything special.”

With the massive biography Robin by New York Times cultural reporter David Itzkoff, we finally get to crack that eggshell to discover the human and superhuman sides to the man who gave us Mork from Ork, Adrian Cronauer, John Keating and the Genie, with all the sadness and complexities that went with it.

To put it succinctly, Itzkoff has done an tremendous job of giving his many fans a much clearer picture of the public and private Robin Williams through contemporary press accounts and reviews, and countless interviews with friends, colleagues (within the comedy and film communities), surviving family members, as well as introspective interviews that Williams conducted with the press throughout his lifetime. The end result is probably one of the most deep biographical treatments of the comedian as tragic figure since Albert Goldman’s “Ladies and Gentlemen … Lenny Bruce!” and Bob Woodward’s John Belushi biography “Wired”.

Born a child of privilege (his father was a high-ranking executive at the Ford Motor Company), Williams decided early in life that a career in show business (particularly in comedy) was more preferable than being a lawyer. Through his studies at the prestigious Julliard School in New York (in which one of his classmates was the late Christopher Reeve), and then paying his dues as a street mime in San Francisco and as a manic, free form stand-up comic who became a must-see at the legendary Comedy Store (rainbow suspenders and all).

But it was in 1978 that Williams’ manic style of comedy made him a star: first in a guest shot as Mork in an episode of Happy Days called “My Favorite Orkan”, and then expanding the role that fall on the series “Mork and Mindy”, which he dominated until its run ended in 1982.

What Itzkoff argues is that the key reason Robin Williams became such a comedy superstar on “Mork and Mindy” and later in many of his best known starring movie roles was that the directors he worked with (especially Barry Levinson and Chris Columbus) gave him the necessary breathing room to allow him to improvise several scenes, and use the best routines in the final cut. However, Williams’ tendency to practice his wild style of improv comedy could at times be a detriment to the production he was working on, which was evident when he performed with Steve Martin on a Lincoln Center production of “Waiting for Godot”, which led to the production’s abbreviated run.

The book also paints a portrait of Robin Williams who was a mass of pain, self-doubt and chemical dependency, not to mention a man-child who revelled in his collection of toy soldiers and found pleasure in shopping for comic books, not to mention taking many critical pans of his later movies quite personally (especially his Broadway debut in 2011 in the serio-comic play “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”, which although he gained the much-needed critical praise, was passed over for a Tony Award nomination).

“Robin” is probably the definitive biography of a man whos goal in life was to just make a lot of people laugh with his own brand of comedy. And through his stand-up specials, and memorable movie performances, Robin Williams became one of the most beloved comedians/comic actors of his time. Yet because of his delicate, fragile personal side, Robin Williams was like his showbiz namesake from a century ago: he was the funniest man you ever saw, and was the saddest man you ever met. But thanks to David Itzkoff’s fascinating book, you can readily understand why he was both.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/robin-williams-who-was-a-mass-of-pain-self-doubt-book-review/feed/0Caddyshack by Chris Nashawaty – Book reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/caddyshack-by-chris-nashawaty-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/caddyshack-by-chris-nashawaty-book-review/#respondTue, 12 Jun 2018 11:40:36 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=48349Caddyshack – Comedy fans and golf enthusiasts alike will always have Harold Ramis’ way out 1980 movie comedy “Caddyshack” in their collective conscience as one of the funniest movies of that genre that focused on that sport. They will always recall memorable scenes or recite word-for-word stand out lines or dialogue such as Al Czervik’s […]

]]>Caddyshack – Comedy fans and golf enthusiasts alike will always have Harold Ramis’ way out 1980 movie comedy “Caddyshack” in their collective conscience as one of the funniest movies of that genre that focused on that sport.

Yes, the outrageously comic misadventures of the “snobs versus slobs” battle amongst the fairways and putting greens at the mythical Bushwood Golf and Country Club that is “Caddyshack” these days is ranked as one of the greatest movie comedies of all time. Yet, “Caddyshack”’s double bogey road from concept to movie immortality was plagued with egotistical clashes, countless bouts of unpredictability, on set debauchery after the cameras finished rolling each day during production, a first-time director who never knew what a camera angle was, and a 400-page screen treatment in which some of its most memorable scenes were not even included and many of them were developed while principal photography took place (ironically enough, the Baby Ruth pool scene was part of the original shooting script).

Nashawaty, a writer for Entertainment Weekly, has done more than tell the story of a cult classic movie. He traces Caddyshack’s evolution to how its major players in front of and behind the cameras evolved in the world of contemporary humour that brought them to the hot and humid Fort Lauderdale set in the fall of 1979, from the Harvard Lampoon, to National Lampoon, to Second City, SCTV and finally, Saturday Night Live, and how it almost became a logical, organic coming together of talent.

And this book is filled with an endless rich vein of behind-the-scenes stories – most of them are quite unpredictable in nature – which makes one wonder how this movie ever got made in the first place. Practically every memorable scene was either improvised, ad-libbed or were last minute additions to the script (case in point, that pesky gopher, which became the thread that bound the film’s narrative during the latter stage of the production). Then there’s all of Bill Murray’s scenes as demented groundskeeper Carl Spackler, which were filmed in six days (that was all the time Murray had available before he had to return to New York for season five of SNL); Cindy Morgan’s refusal to do her nude scene with Michael O’Keefe with a photographer from Playboy present on the set (she changed her mind after producer Jon Peters threatened to fire her; she did the scene, sans photographer); and all those drug and alcohol-soaked parties every night at the motel where the Caddyshack cast and crew were staying in Fort Lauderdale (with Rodney Dangerfield being the heaviest user of the pot that was being smoke there).

However, if this book has to have a tragic figure, it’s Douglas Kenney, who wrote the script with Harold Ramis and Brian Doyle-Murray (whose experiences as a caddy at an exclusive Illinois golf club was the inspiration for Caddyshack). Kenney, who was one of the founders of National Lampoon and was co-writer of the 1978 blockbuster “Animal House”, hoped that Caddyshack would be just as big a box office hit as Animal House. But thanks to his constantly erratic behaviour (which was fueled by a never ending supply of alcohol and drugs), Kenney lost control of the film to its producers. It reached a low point for him during the press conference for the film at Dangerfield’s comedy club in New York, following its advance screening the night before, in which Kenney appeared so drunk and antagonistic, he had to be escorted out of the club by his parents. He then went on an ill-advised vacation to Hawaii with Chevy Chase; and in August of 1980, was found dead at the bottom of a cliff of an apparent suicide. Kenney’s story in the book is quite engrossing to read, and is not only a typical story of how comedians, and people involved in comedy, end up being sad, insecure individuals, it could have easily held up as a separate book in its own right.

Chris Nashawaty’s book Caddyshack is a fascinating, page-turning behind-the-scenes account of how a film production that was doomed to failure from the start evolved into a true cult classic in the annals of movie comedy. Now that’s a Cinderella story! (Flatiron Books, $37.99)

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/caddyshack-by-chris-nashawaty-book-review/feed/0Montreal Children’s Library Appeals for Fundshttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/social-life/community/montreal-childrens-library-appeals-for-funds/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/social-life/community/montreal-childrens-library-appeals-for-funds/#respondFri, 01 Jun 2018 11:37:22 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=47779Montreal Children’s Library – Contrary to what some people might think, the Montreal Children’s Library (MCL) is independent from the Montreal library network and not funded by tax dollars. Instead it relies on donations and grants to keep its doors open. In fact, the MCL wants to expand its hours by opening on Saturdays, but […]

]]>Montreal Children’s Library – Contrary to what some people might think, the Montreal Children’s Library (MCL) is independent from the Montreal library network and not funded by tax dollars. Instead it relies on donations and grants to keep its doors open. In fact, the MCL wants to expand its hours by opening on Saturdays, but funding constraints make this is a challenge.

Kids enjoying the Montreal Children’s Library. Photo Courtesy: MCL

Unfortunately, the summer months tend to be the season when Canadians feel the least charitable. To meet this challenge, CanadaHelps and The GIV3 Foundation have launched the fourth annual Great Canadian Giving Challenge. MCL is the chosen charity to represent the province of Quebec, so every dollar donated to the library in June viaCanadaHelps.org or GivingChallenge.ca automatically enters it to win an additional $10,000 in a contest.

“Some 80% of our funding comes from donations,” explains Alexandra D’Arrisso, President of the MCL. “We also have a lot of volunteers—including myself and the entire board–working for the library. Our annual budget is only $150,000, most of which goes toward operating costs and book acquisitions. We run a very tight ship!”

Alexandra D’Arrisso. Photo Courtesy: MCL

When the MCL first opened in 1929, it was the only children’s library in the city. For many years it was housed in the same building as the Atwater Library, but has now moved to the St. Michel borough.

“We also have outreach programs based out of six sites across Montreal,” continues D’Arrisso. “Our clientele ranges from newborns to 18-year-olds with the ‘Parent Child Mother Goose’ program addressing our youngest clients. For young adolescents, we run journal writing courses. We also try to address immigrant populations and go to where the needs are.”

“Libraries are more than just books; they are also a destination to go after school, a place for homework support, many different programs are offered out of the MCL and they are all free,” says D’Arrisso to justify the role of libraries in the computer age. “Most of these programs address the underprivileged. We have Lego and robotics classes, role playing games, we provide an escape for Mom, are the venue for events such as Halloween parties, and can provide mentors.”

“I work in a school, and can tell which kids have benefited from exposure to books at an early age. It helps them academically and provides innumerable benefits,” adds d D’Arrisso who is a child psychologist by profession.

In 2017, 77,785 Canadians participated in the Great Canadian Giving Challenge, donating almost $10 million to over 10,000 charities. This represents an 83% increase in donations compared to June 2014. Donations to the MCL are tax deductible.

The MCL operates out of a community centre on 42nd Street in St. Michel and is currently open Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm. More information about the MCL and its outreach programs is available at the contacts below.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/social-life/community/montreal-childrens-library-appeals-for-funds/feed/0Chasing Hillary by Amy Choznick – Book reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/chasing-hillary-by-amy-choznick-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/chasing-hillary-by-amy-choznick-book-review/#respondSun, 27 May 2018 13:01:55 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=47581Chasing Hillary – The story behind how and why Hillary Clinton lost the divisive, volatile 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign to Donald Trump is quite a fascinating one, and it has already been the subject of two best selling books: one from the candidate’s point-of-view (What Happened) and from two of Hillary’s senior campaign workers […]

]]>Chasing Hillary – The story behind how and why Hillary Clinton lost the divisive, volatile 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign to Donald Trump is quite a fascinating one, and it has already been the subject of two best selling books: one from the candidate’s point-of-view (What Happened) and from two of Hillary’s senior campaign workers (Shattered).

And now, there is another book that takes an inside look at Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign that was definitely hers to lose. However, this time it’s from the viewpoint from one of the girls on the bus … press bus, that is. And for New York Times reporter Amy Chozick’s book Chasing Hillary, it’s a story of how a veteran politician and former First Lady tried to break the political glass ceiling to become the first woman elected President of the United States, as told by a woman who spent most of her career breaking the glass ceiling of the male-dominated world of journalism in general, and political journalism in particular.

For starters, Chasing Hillary is an example of trench coat journalism and history-on-the-run reporting at its best that ranks up there with Timothy Crouse’s Boys on the Bus and Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes.

The book is a quasi-diary of Chozick’s on the road accounts of covering Clinton’s 2008 and 2016 presidential campaigns. From the trail of endless cookie cutter chain hotels, to criss-crossing the country by car and plane (until Clinton’s people splurged on a press bus during the latter part of the 2016 campaign), to the meals on the run (especially Panera Bread-style meal requests that were de rigeur every morning with the Clinton people), to the never ending campaign stops in every small town in America, to the snooty and at times uncooperative campaign staffers, to the stressful quest of getting scoops and meeting deadlines, Chozick gives the reader a gritty, unflinching – and at times thankless — look at what it’s like to cover a presidential campaign.

The impression the reader gets when they finish Chasing Hillary was that Hillary Clinton was a two-time train wreck in a pants suit just waiting to happen. She comes off as a person whose intentions were genuine in theory, but became less genuine with every campaign appearance and whatever statement came out of her mouth (one vivid example of Hillary’s coterie of staffers trying to make her look genuine in the eyes of the media and potential voters was during a stop at the Iowa State Fair, when staffers scrambled to have her eat a corn dog so that she can be seen as a candidate of the people). And to make matters more difficult for Chozick and her job of covering Clinton, she and the candidate never really got along from the offset, thanks mainly to the pieces she wrote about Clinton in the New York Times that she thought were unflattering at the very least, especially a piece that was written late in the campaign that dealt with why she spent most of her time during this crucial period attending high profile fundraising events instead of being on the campaign trail.

What I enjoyed about the book is Chozick’s caustic, take-no-prisoners narrative style, which almost echoes the old school type of political journalism that you might have read about 50 or 60 years ago. In fact, I could envision her churning out the text on a battered Underwood typewriter, wearing a 1930s-style trench coat and a battered fedora with a “press” card jammed into the hatband, and a half-smoked cigar clenched between her teeth. There is plenty of sarcastic humor as well, especially as she gives a lot of code names to her media colleagues and campaign flunkies she has encountered on the road, from “Hired Gun Guy”, to “The Guys”, to “Policy Guy”, to “Brown Loafers”, to “Original Guy”; even Hillary doesn’t escape this code name treatment from Chozick (she gets the most polite one: “FWP”, or “First Woman President”).

Chasing Hillary is a fascinating, absorbing, page turner of a trench coat memoir about the rigours a political journalist goes through to cover an election campaign, and the personal and professional toll it takes on both candidate and journalist alike. Amy Chozick endured all of these rigors and pressures on the road and in front of her laptop computer, as she valiantly covered what she and many other people thought would be a monumental achievement in American history. All she got was a lot of bylines, scoops, headaches and a glass ceiling that has remained intact, but with several cracks in it, waiting for the next potential FWP to break through it.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/chasing-hillary-by-amy-choznick-book-review/feed/0Hire Me If You Can by Bram David Eisenthal – Book reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/hire-me-if-you-can-by-bram-david-eisenthal-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/hire-me-if-you-can-by-bram-david-eisenthal-book-review/#respondTue, 08 May 2018 20:37:06 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=46905Hire Me If You Can – About 20 years ago, Johnny Hart’s “B.C.” comic strip had one of those “art imitates life”-type strips appear in the many newspapers that syndicated it. The strip showed Peter, the snarky, entrepreneurial character running an employment agency, as he looked over the resume of title character – and potential […]

]]>Hire Me If You Can – About 20 years ago, Johnny Hart’s “B.C.” comic strip had one of those “art imitates life”-type strips appear in the many newspapers that syndicated it. The strip showed Peter, the snarky, entrepreneurial character running an employment agency, as he looked over the resume of title character – and potential applicant – B.C. He noticed the long list of previous jobs he held that were mentioned in the resume, which prompted Peter to curtly reply “Can’t hold onto to a job, huh?”

These days, a resume with a long list of previous jobs can have a stigma attached to it, meaning one’s inability to hold onto a job for an extended period of time, and would not bode well for any future employer, let alone the potential employee. However, there are certain circumstances that can explain the reason behind it … and many of them not always the fault of the job seeker in question: another (lucrative) job offer, egotistical addle-minded ignorant bosses, jealous vindictive fellow employees, job dissatisfaction, difficult work atmosphere … and yes, there’s quitting and getting fired.

Hire Me If You Can by Bram David Eisenthal Book cover

Montreal writer Bram David Eisenthal has been through the employment wringer, and throughout his quest for finding a meaningful, satisfying career, he has done a whole litany of jobs: stock room boy, department store clerk, journalist, electronics firm salesman, freelance magazine writer, movie unit publicist, organizational communications consultant, newspaper publisher/editor, and his current line of work, security guard.

But throughout his 61 years, the NDG native has never let up this quest, nor his need to work. And through his polished writing skills, Einsenthal has told his story about his long road towards meaningful employment via his first published book, an entertaining memoir called Hire Me If You Can.

The son of Holocaust survivors from Romania, Eisenthal was instilled with his need to work ethic from his father Mike, who worked hard to earn his keep and support a family in the garment (“shmata”) district sweatshops of St. Laurent Boulevard. Barely in his teens, Eisenthal got his first taste of working for a living when he was hired as a busboy in a Laurentians resort hotel (a la Duddy Kravitz); he even landed three successive jobs during the early days of Cavendish Mall in Cote St. Luc during the 1970s at three stores that are now just distant memories: Silverberg’s Toys, Eaton’s and Miracle Mart.

Not the keenest of students, Eisenthal found his calling in the world of journalism and got his feet wet with stints at the Loyola News, the Filipino Times, The Suburban and the legendary American horror/sci-fi magazine Fangoria.

However, he managed to combine his love of movies and writing, when in 1993, he was hired by legendary Montreal film industry figure David Novek to become a unit publicist for a film that was about to be shot in Montreal called “Rainbow”. This provides the book’s longest – and most absorbing – chapter, which reads like a juicy tell-all memoir. Eisenthal uses his penchant for behind the scenes details to provide all the memorable moments, tensions, egos, brushes with celebrity and bend-over-backward tasks that he had to endure as a unit publicist. Perhaps my favorite moment in this chapter is when he worked on the set of the movie “Free Money” that starred Hollywood legend Marlon Brando, which ended up being his final on-screen appearance. Brando, who at the time was a shell of his former self that brought such memorable characters as Stanley Kowalski and Don Corleone to the silver screen, did something quite generous for the crew on his final day on the set. Brando sat at a small wooden desk and personally autographed 150 copies of a black and white headshot of himself as each crew member patiently waited for their personalized autographed photo of the Oscar-winning legend.

…And then there’s my other favourite chapter: the saga of the “Giant Colon” (which could make for the bizarre plot of a motion picture in its own right). When he was hired as the National Manager of Exhibits by the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada (CCAC) in 2008, Eisenthal’s chief responsibility was to coordinate, organize and manage the “Giant Colon Tour”. Basically, he would oversee the construction and display of a 40-foot long reproduction of a human colon (that was made up of four inflatable sections and powered by four industrial-strength blower fans), where visitors were able to explore inside the colon and find out up close and personal how and what causes colorectal cancer. During the tour, which started out in the malls of three Northern Ontario cities (which were able to afford the $12,500-a-day fee for the privilege of exhibiting this life-sized human internal organ), Eisenthal somehow managed to develop a thick skin and nerves of steel to oversee this task – and the pitfalls and headaches that went with it – to its successful conclusion; a task that would have shattered the resolve of any mere mortal.

But what makes Hire Me If You Can such an appealing book is that whatever Eisenthal went through and endured throughout his quest for meaningful employment, the reader can easily identify with his situations and dilemmas because for most part, we have all went through such similar scenarios (myself included). However, the major difference is that for most part, we are reluctant (or afraid) to talk about what we went through during our lives as workers. Not Bram David Eisenthal. His brash, unabashed prose gives off a tone that sometimes we wish we could take up without the fear of recrimination. It makes us not only empathize with him, but want to read even more about his exploits towards finding that career-defining job (which is why his book is such a fascinating page-turner).

Essentially, as a result of telling his story of a lifetime of jobs and job-searching, Bram David Eisenthal can now add two more positions to his impressive resume: published author and storyteller (and a heckuva good one).

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/hire-me-if-you-can-by-bram-david-eisenthal-book-review/feed/0My Days: Happy and Otherwise by Marion Ross – Book Review (Happy Days video)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/my-days-happy-and-otherwise-by-marion-ross-book-review-happy-days-video/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/my-days-happy-and-otherwise-by-marion-ross-book-review-happy-days-video/#respondFri, 20 Apr 2018 22:00:14 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=46437Marion Ross – For fans of classic television shows, if they decided to create a hall of fame for the tube’s greatest moms, the following names would automatically come to mind: Harriet Nelson, June Cleaver, Carol Brady, Shirley Partridge and Marion Cunningham. They wouldn’t be immortalized for how they looked so fashionable in an apron […]

]]>Marion Ross – For fans of classic television shows, if they decided to create a hall of fame for the tube’s greatest moms, the following names would automatically come to mind: Harriet Nelson, June Cleaver, Carol Brady, Shirley Partridge and Marion Cunningham.

They wouldn’t be immortalized for how they looked so fashionable in an apron and high heels, or how they kept their TV families well fed with milk & cookies or meat loaf & mashed potatoes, but how – in their own right – managed to keep their respective family dynamics intact with plenty of humor, wisdom and strength.

Marion Ross

“I always found the role of Mrs. C to be an evolving one. At the table reads I always read the girls’ parts, as a way of constantly auditioning for the writers on Happy Days. I kept showing them what I can do and what others things I can do with the part. As a result, the writers kept on expanding the role of Mrs. C, and it kept on growing throughout the show’s run,” said Ms. Ross during a recent phone interview to promote the publication of her memoir My Days: Happy and Otherwise.

Although many people remember Marion Ross for her role as Mrs. C on the ABC hit sitcom “Happy Days” throughout its decade-long run from 1974 to 1984, her book shows that her life – both professional and personal – wasn’t always idyllic as that of the life of the fictional Cunningham family of Milwaukee.

Born in October of 1928 in the small Minnesota town of Albert Lea (her mother was actually Canadian, born and raised in northern Saskatchewan), Ms. Ross knew from an early age that a career as an actress (in particular a Broadway stage actress) was destined for her. Ironically, when her family moved to California, she began to get small roles in a variety of movies and TV shows, including “Perry Mason”, “General Electric Theatre”, “The Untouchables”, “Rawhide”, “Teacher’s Pet” with Clark Gable, “Operation Petticoat” with Cary Grant and “The Glenn Miller Story” with Jimmy Stewart, and “Airport” with Burt Lancaster.

It was after completing a small part in the latter movie that she met a casting agent through a mutual friend, who told her that she was casting for a new sitcom pilot for ABC called “A New Kind of Family” that was being produced by a young man named Garry Marshall, and that she would be ideal for the role of the mother. The pilot, which also starred Ron Howard, was shot but was not picked up; instead, it became an episode on the ABC anthology comedy series “Love American Style” in 1972. Two years later, as a result of the pilot’s popularity on that show, ABC finally picked up the pilot and debuted in January of 1974 as “Happy Days”.

As well, the book baldly portrays how her actual married life was never like that of Howard and Marion Cunningham. During the early 50s, while she was a contract player for Paramount, Ms. Ross married Freeman (“Effie”) Meskimen, an aspiring actor who was less motivated to pursue a career in acting and whose only passion was for alcohol. And by the time they were divorced more than a decade later, she had to face the struggle of being a single mother, who was constantly auditioning for – and acting in – any TV or movie role that came her way, so that she can support herself and her two children, son Jim and daughter Ellen.

Although Ms. Ross uses the first half of the book to tell her story in a very introspective, revealing and philosophical tone, she allows ghost writer David Laurell to allow the people she is close with both personally and professionally to give their point of view of who and what Marion Ross is all about. Telling their sides of the story in the book are her real life children, her personal assistant Gwen Berohn, and her “Happy Days” family including Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Anson Williams, Don Most and the late Erin Moran and the late Garry Marshall. This device works quite well, as it helps to complete the well rounded portrait of Marion Ross, which is a combination of a complex, strong individual who faced and conquered adversity, and the co-star who was just as much a mother figure to her TV family offscreen as she was onscreen. And the family dynamic of that cast made working on “Happy Days” such a joy for her.

My Days: Happy and Otherwise Book Jacket by Marion Ross

“The cast of Happy Days was a close knit group, and we still are,” she said. “And when we found out after season five that the show was a solid hit, we never got spoiled by that fact. While Donny (Most) was the most funny member of the cast, Ron (Howard) was quietly being perfect all the time. When he made the announcement that he was leaving the show to go to NBC direct TV movies – and later feature films – it was a big blow to all of us. But I told him that he had to go and do what he had to do.”

These days are indeed very happy ones for Marion Ross, as she is about to turn 90 this fall. She is happily retired from acting and when she is not promoting her book, she is living at her two acre Happy Days Farm in Serrania Ridge, California (where her former Happy Days co-star Scott Baio is her neighbour), and is the proud grandmother to her three grandchildren.

Although she was at first reluctant to write this book, classic TV fans are grateful that Marion Ross decided to forgo her reluctance to write My Days: Happy and Otherwise. She admits now that she had a marvellous experience writing a memoir that wasn’t a scandal-filled tell-all. And her many fans and admirers should be satisfied that they got a memoir that’s filled with genuine honesty and affection, not to mention cherished memories of one of TV’s most popular and longest-running sitcoms from the point-of-view of one of TV’s most popular moms.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/my-days-happy-and-otherwise-by-marion-ross-book-review-happy-days-video/feed/0The Human Library – Real People in Real Time (Photos + Video)http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-human-library-real-people-in-real-time/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-human-library-real-people-in-real-time/#respondTue, 17 Apr 2018 14:21:46 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=46342The Human Library – It is not simply a library. The Human Library is a global movement, where people called ‘books’ are checked out to ‘readers’. The topics and stories shared are intended to stimulate conversations and help others get past stereotypical preconceptions on many issues and subject matters. It is like picking up a […]

]]>The Human Library – It is not simply a library. The Human Library is a global movement, where people called ‘books’ are checked out to ‘readers’. The topics and stories shared are intended to stimulate conversations and help others get past stereotypical preconceptions on many issues and subject matters. It is like picking up a book and sitting down to read someone’s story, but in a way you might not have ever considered before; in real time and with a live person telling it to you. It’s an amazing initiative and growing in communities on a global scale.

Human Library Checkouts – FB

The experience is more of a conversation than a formal talk or speech and lasts about 15 to 20 minutes, taking place as a special event in a library or other conducive venues. Readers choose from a board to see which books and titles are available and decide which ‘story’ they want to check out. They are then introduced to the human ‘book’, a person who shares their experience and knowledge with them, while sitting down together in a quiet area of the venue.

Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover – Human Library – FB

It’s a movement that started in 2000 at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and quickly spread, with events now happening all over the world. One event that took place in 2016 at Fairfield University in Connecticut ran for four straight days and featured over fifty different titles – with more than a thousand readers taking advantage of the opportunity of checking out a ‘book’ from the Human Library selection. It was so successful they held another event in 2017.

Check Out Board – Human Library – FB

As they state on their website, ‘the concept works… it helps build understanding for diversity by providing a framework for real conversations about important issues’.
The points they make explain why it works:

• Open and honest conversations that can lead to greater acceptance, tolerance and social cohesion in the community.

• Real people in real conversations within a framework setup to help facilitate and accommodate the process.

• Because this is an innovative approach to challenging stigma, stereotypes and prejudices through a non-confrontational and friendly conversation.

• To give a voice to groups in the community that are stigmatized and to help bring about platforms that support a greater understanding of diversity and social cohesion.

Human Book and Reader – Human Library – FB

Human ‘books’ share their stories from personal experience, including just about everything from: homelessness, unemployment, autism (ASD), alcoholism, HIV, naturists/nudists, sexually abuse, molestation, religious conversion, being a refugee, PTSD, bipolarism, polygamy, ADHD – to being a young single mother and more.

Human Book and Reader – Human Library – FB

Held mostly in schools, libraries and at fairs, makes it more accessible to organize an event – no matter what your budget is. What you need is ‘time and idle hands to do the tasks’. It’s why it has been possible for so many to organize their own events with very little funding.

Human Book and Reader – Human Library – FB

At last estimates, the Human Library has been presented in more than 70 countries around the world from Romania, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Italy, Holland to Slovenia, Belgium, Portugal and Australia – to mention a few.

Human Library Titles – FB

If you would like to find out more about the Human Library, how you can organize an event, become a Reader or a Book go to: http://humanlibrary.org/

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-human-library-real-people-in-real-time/feed/0Comedian James Mullinger and wife Pamela living the Canadian dream with magazine EDIThttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/comedian-james-mullinger-living-the-canadian-magazine-dream-edit/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/comedian-james-mullinger-living-the-canadian-magazine-dream-edit/#respondFri, 13 Apr 2018 13:00:27 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=46235Canadian magazine EDIT – Since I first saw British comedian James Mullinger perform four years ago at the Montreal Fringe Festival, he was constantly bringing to life the title of the solo show that he performed to full houses at the MainLine Theatre during the summer of 2014: “Living the Canadian Dream”. Since he moved […]

]]>Canadian magazine EDIT – Since I first saw British comedian James Mullinger perform four years ago at the Montreal Fringe Festival, he was constantly bringing to life the title of the solo show that he performed to full houses at the MainLine Theatre during the summer of 2014: “Living the Canadian Dream”.

Maritime Edit cover

Since he moved to New Brunswick with his wife Pamela more than four years ago, Mullinger has done the impossible and carved out a career for himself in stand-up comedy not only in New Brunswick, but throughout the Maritimes. He has toured extensively in clubs and arenas throughout the region (as well as across Canada; he wraps up his latest tour called “Let’s Do It Again” on April 28 at the Harbour Station arena in St. John); has produced several comedy CDs and DVDs (his latest, “Anything is Possible”, was released a few months ago); and has written and produced a feature-length film, the autobiographical “The Comedian’s Guide to Survival”.

Pam & James Mullinger, and Dennis Prescott at Spring issue launch

“When we moved here over four years ago, we fell in love with the place and were amazed with the quality of life in New Brunswick. However, we grew frustrated that no one knew a lot about it, because this region of the country conveys a lot of opportunities,” said Mullinger during a recent phone interview. “For years, the way people perceived the Maritimes was never in a positive way. They saw it as a place that was always in debt and had lots of problems. It led to a lot of blind perceptions about the area.”

In order to remedy that perception, Mullinger and Pamela decided to use their respective backgrounds in magazine publishing (he wrote for the British edition of GQ, while she worked for a popular British magazine called “Monocle”). The end result was “The Maritime Edit”, a high quality, lavishly-illustrated quarterly magazine that made its debut last summer. It’s available at a number of Chapters and Indigo bookstores across Quebec and the rest of Canada and costs $9.99 a copy.

EDIT – Fashion NFLD spread

“The magazine is a celebration of what it’s like to live big in a smaller town or city. It’s a lifestyle publication that doesn’t gloss over the problems that the Maritimes face, but it offers an alternative view of how it’s a genuine place for people to live in or spend a holiday. We show you the sights that we know and love,” he said. While the couple serves as the magazine’s co-founders, James serves as its editor-in-chief, and Pamela is its publishing director, as they oversee a stable of freelance contributors, many of them hailing from the Maritimes.

And leafing through its recently-launched Spring 2018 issue, the Mullingers’ mission to spread the word about how attractive the Maritimes can be for residents and visitors alike through quality articles and coffee table book style photographs succeeds quite admirably. In this issue, Mullinger conducts an interview with his favorite author, British novelist Alan Hollinghurst; there is a cover story about Dennis Prescott, a New Brunswick musician-turned-internationally renown chef and cookbook author; there is a look at the natural beauty of Sable Island; how businessman Glynn Williams almost singlehandedly revived the fortunes of a picturesque small hamlet in Nova Scotia called Guysborough; an article at how Newfoundland is experiencing a fashion renaissance; as well, there are featurettes that list essential spring cultural events throughout the Maritimes, the five road races that you have to run in between May and October, and Maritime comedian Mandy-Lynn Donovan explaining how small-town living saved her life.

EDIT – Dennis Prescott spread

And how did it come up with its out of the ordinary name? “We got the idea for calling the magazine ‘The Maritime Edit’ on the idea that we the staff will do the edit for you. All you, the reader, has to do is go out there and experience the things that we wrote about so that you can get the best possible Maritimes experience,” he said.

The decision to give the magazine a coffee-table book aesthetic quality – and using the same shape and size as National Geographic – was quite a deliberate one. “Pamela and me decided to make the magazine resemble a coffee table book was for the sake of longevity and functionality,” said Mullinger. “You purchase it, put it on your coffee table, and periodically, you come back, pick it up and read the articles until the next issue is released six months later. People do like the look of a physical magazine, whether it be the cover, the photos and even the print stock we use for the paper. It helps make the content applicable no matter if you are from the Maritimes or not.”

James and Pamela produce each issue of “The Maritime Edit” in their New Brunswick home, and devote 10 hours a day to it, and with James performing comedy shows practically every night. He admits it’s a whirlwind way of life for him.

“Right now, the magazine is a grass roots operation, and it can be a crazy thing,” he said. “A day for me can consist of a photo shoot, then getting a phone call from a local Indigo store saying their stock of copies are sold out and they need more, and having to drive there with boxes of magazines in my trunk. Also, we are out on the road a lot to get new advertisers. And then three hours later, I have to go do a comedy show that same night. With all of these ventures, I end up being more busy than ever.”

Alan Hollingshurst and James Mullinger

“However, this is my dream scenario and my #1 passion, yet I have never rested on my laurels,” he added. “I perform more stand-up comedy across Canada, but I get to choose the gigs that I want to do, which helps me to stay more sharp and focused, as well as gives me the chance to make new fans. And yet, I always ask myself this question: can I make a living at this and can I sustain this?”

With an increasing number of stand-up comedy gigs becoming part of his itinerary, as well as a year’s worth of stories on tap for future issues of “The Maritime Edit” and a growing subscription base, the answer to the above question for James Mullinger is a resounding “yes”.

For more information on “The Maritime Edit”, or to purchase a subscription, go to www.maritimeedit.com.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/comedian-james-mullinger-living-the-canadian-magazine-dream-edit/feed/0Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings – Book Review ( videos )http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/lightfoot-by-nicholas-jennings-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/lightfoot-by-nicholas-jennings-book-review/#respondTue, 10 Apr 2018 17:32:33 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=46160Lightfoot – In an interview with The Globe and Mail about 20 years ago, the late best-selling author – and Canadian cultural icon – Pierre Berton made this rather curious comment about fellow Canadian cultural icon, singer Gordon Lightfoot: “Gordie is a taciturn kind of guy. I think he cares about his music, but I […]

]]>Lightfoot – In an interview with The Globe and Mail about 20 years ago, the late best-selling author – and Canadian cultural icon – Pierre Berton made this rather curious comment about fellow Canadian cultural icon, singer Gordon Lightfoot: “Gordie is a taciturn kind of guy. I think he cares about his music, but I don’t think he cares about his image.”

Lightfood book cover

But somehow that best sums up the behind the music character of Gordon Lightfoot. For over 50 years, he was one of the most recognized figures in the contemporary Canadian music scene, whose songs about love, heartache, travelling along the highways and byways in a freewheeling manner, the beauty of the Canadian landscape, and historic ballads like “If You Could Read My Mind”, “Sundown”, “Carefree Highway”, “For Lovin’ Me”, “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” – all delivered with his trademark rough-hewn, lilting singing voice, has made him an international sensation and has earned him the respect and admiration of millions of fans, as well as some of the biggest names in the folk-rock, singers/songwriters music scene.

However, there is more to Gordon Lightfoot than those much loved remembered songs. Veteran Canadian music journalist Nicholas Jennings, author of an excellent history of Canadian rock music called Before the Gold Rush, has captured both sides of Gordon Lightfoot in a very captivating manner with his recently released biography called, simply enough, Lightfoot.

Born 80 years ago in the town of Orillia, Ontario (which coincidentally, was the original site of the Mariposa folk music festival), Lightfoot knew from an early age that he wanted to pursue a career in music. First it was as a soprano choir singer at St. Paul’s church in Orillia, which led him to sing at local amateur talent competitions, in which his impressive singing voice won him a major competition in 1951 called the Kiwanis Music Festival at Toronto’s Massey Hall (a venue that would later be like a second home to him). After a spell as a member of the square dancing troupe on the CBC Television music series “Country Hoedown” (where his less than spectacular dancing skills prompted his colleagues to call him “Leadfoot”), Lightfoot haunted the coffeehouses and clubs of Yorkville, New York and L.A. to establish himself as a folk music performer. However, it wasn’t until 1965, when his song “For Lovin’ Me” was being covered by the likes of such major folk music performers as Peter, Paul and Mary, that Lightfoot began to establish a solid reputation as a singer/songwriter.

Jennings’ book covers both sides of Gordon Lightfoot with plenty of detail and behind-the-scenes information, in which the end result is quite a complete, well-rounded portrait of the man and his music. However, what gives this book an extra dose of credibility is that Lightfoot himself gave Jennings unprecedented access to himself through a series of rare, revealing interviews, which deftly closes a lot of gaps to the story of his talents and mystique.

On the musical side of the story, you find out that Gordon Lightfoot is a musical perfectionist and a steadfast creature of habit. He tours on a regular basis (with his annual sold-out gigs at Massey Hall are seen almost like a homecoming), he spent countless weeks every year holed up in a special room in his suburban Toronto mansion, where he composed and wrote the songs of his upcoming albums, fueled with an endless supply of coffee, cigarettes (and up until the 1980s) alcohol. And at every tour stop, even if he has played the songs on the play list thousands of times, he was always insistent that his guitar and the instruments of his back-up band were always perfectly fine tuned.

As well, Jennings gives a thorough, album-by-album approach to how Lightfoot crafted his songs and how and what inspired them. My favourite story deals with his 1976 chart topper “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, which Lightfoot first learned about when he heard an item on CBC Radio about the tragic shipwreck that claimed the lives of its 29 crewmen, while he took a break from one of his album song writing sessions. During the recording session for the “Summertime Dream” album, Lightfoot kept on playing bits and pieces of the song, which no one in the studio had a clue about; in fact, the band didn’t even know its lyrics. One day, the recording engineer insisted that Lightfoot commit the song to tape, even though he believed he wasn’t ready to record it yet. However, Lightfoot and the band recorded the entire six-minute ballad in one take. By November of 1976, the single topped both the Canadian and U.S. record charts.

And the personal side of Gordon Lightfoot is just as interesting to read about as the musical side. He was an intensely private person who shied away from receiving any award or honour; he rarely gave interviews (and when he did, he didn’t say very much that was revealing at best); and he closely guarded his image and musical credibility (case in point: when his first record label decided to issue an album compilation of his early hit songs without his permission, Lightfoot bought all the copies of that album, then proceeded to personally destroy them with an ax).

There were plenty of personal demons that were a part of Lightfoot’s life, especially alcohol. Throughout the 60s and 70s, alcohol was part of his life blood, whether it be personal or professional. He drank it steadily during his song writing sessions, and basically fuelled him up before performances (during one tour in the UK, Lightfoot drank several Irish Coffees before he went onstage). Although he claimed his annual summertime canoe trips to remote parts of Canada acted as a sort-of “detox” before he started touring every fall, he finally gave up drinking on Labour Day of 1981. After he witnessed his then-girlfriend Cathy Coonley forever leaving him with his son Eric, Lightfoot then proceeded to empty his liquor cabinet and poured the contents of every bottle down the kitchen sink. He never touched a drop of alcohol again.

Although he has married twice more, survived a near-fatal health issue (he suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm in 2002), and warded off false reports about his death, Gordon Lightfoot still records new songs and continues to tour as he performs around the world to packed houses, firmly solidifying his legendary reputation (albeit reluctantly) as Canada’s troubadour. And Nicholas Jennings’ fascinating biography solidifies that legend even further, as readers discover the two sides of the man who has told Canada’s story to the world in song.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/lightfoot-by-nicholas-jennings-book-review/feed/0Chris Moorman: The inside story of the most successful online poker player of all time – Book Reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/chris-moorman-the-inside-story-of-the-most-successful-online-poker-player-of-all-time-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/chris-moorman-the-inside-story-of-the-most-successful-online-poker-player-of-all-time-book-review/#respondTue, 10 Apr 2018 13:58:43 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=46132Chris Moorman – When it comes to perfecting your skills in playing poker, there are many things you can do to improve. Obviously, nothing comes close to practising in many different environments that may reflect what it would be like to play a game. Perfecting the skills needed to make quick decisions under intense pressure […]

]]>Chris Moorman – When it comes to perfecting your skills in playing poker, there are many things you can do to improve. Obviously, nothing comes close to practising in many different environments that may reflect what it would be like to play a game. Perfecting the skills needed to make quick decisions under intense pressure is a key facet of the game. But there is another way to hone your poker ability – by following in the footsteps of the greats, and taking their tried and tested advice, such as Chris Moorman’s as offered in his new book. While not being a traditional go-to read for many, Moorman’s book can actually offer insight not only on poker but on life.

Chris Moorman, poker pro

In August 2017, Chris Moorman became the all-time leader in career online poker tournaments with his revenue surpassing $14 million – and holds the distinguished title of being the only player in online poker history with career earnings over $10 million. Moorman has published his second book – Moorman: The Inside Story of the Most Successful Online Poker Player of All Time – that delves into his life as a poker player and offers some wisdom to potential poker fans who wish to follow in his footsteps.

While his initial book, Moorman’s Book of Poker: Improve Your Poker Game was a tome of strategy and hints and tips to achieving the same level of poker success, its spiritual sequel offers more of an autobiographical slant to Moorman’s poker playing. The book was a conversational coaching book by Moorman and Byron Jacobs that informed the reader as to which hands to play in various scenarios and why, providing analysis for strategy and ways to become an instinctive poker player. Moorman’s second book is largely different and provides a deeper look at the mentality behind some of the moves Moorman has made.

The opening of Moorman’s second book features his early poker playing days – and touches upon what happened when he entered a tournament when he had limited finances. The success he found there and the ease at which he was able to master the game spurned him on to become the record holder he is today. The early stages of the book provide a potted arc of growth for Moorman – he ends up winning the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, maturing as a poker player and a man, and marrying his long-time love.

The poker strategy section of the book – an addendum as such to his first book – features 44 poker hands Moorman has played online. As an added bonus, Moorman brings in some other poker greats to add their analysis, including Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, and Dominik Nitsche. Nitsche shares with Moorman the title of being an 888poker ambassador, which Moorman became in 2016. The addition of some critiques of Moorman’s poker play from someone other than the man himself give extra insight also into the life of a professional poker player, and the interactions you take with other players – especially given how important interpersonal analysis is in poker.

Where Moorman’s second book differs from the first – which used the conversational coaching method to allow Byron Jacobs to suggest hands and predicaments that mid-level Texas hold’em players may be accustomed to, is in the amount of high-stakes hands that are analysed. Some of the hands are ones that could have gained or lost Moorman millions – and for those that did, the analysis is given an added degree of emotion, which the reader can certainly resonate with.

Moorman’s book tops the UK bestseller chart for poker on Amazon

The most beneficial aspect of Moorman’s book is the thought process that goes alongside playing his hands. Whether it is Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha Hi-Lo, or Seven Card Stud, the thought process required in poker is one that can be carefully cultivated and developed. Not only should the player be able to work well under pressure and thoroughly consider every angle, as Moorman indicates, but should also know when to take a risk and when to be more cautious. It is this ability to understand potential risks, yet know when the risk outweighs the reward, that sets Moorman apart from other poker players – and gives readers a valuable insight into the thought process of a pro.

While the book won’t immediately make you a winner’s circle poker player yourself, it will give you the initial tools and training necessary to begin the quest to follow in Moorman’s footsteps. After all, he trained himself and worked up the ranks of professional poker playing – any reader attempting the same has the added edge of having Moorman: The Inside Story of the Most Successful Online Poker Player of All Time to fall back on for advice, guidance, and inspiration.

Moorman has maintained a steady fan base throughout his career – largely from his popular blog on poker, the games he played and won, and titbits of help to the budding amateur. As such, as well as being a skilled poker player, he is also a skilled writer. More than that, the book stands Moorman in good stead for his future – with two titles now under his belt, he can categorically claim to be an author. His poker career will hopefully continue full steam ahead, but if he ever decides to give the cards a rest, there will no doubt be publishers lining up to sign him onto their books.

Becoming a master of poker is no easy feat – despite how it may appear from the outside. Learning not just strategy and advice from the pros, but the inner machinations of their minds as poker players provides a deeper portrait of what exactly it is like to be a career online poker star. The book provides the right balance of advice and strategy to give an education in poker while peppering it with anecdotal and autobiographical information that gives greater insight to the player himself. By marrying the two formats, the book ends up giving not just sound poker advice, but a deeper understand of how to approach the game mentally. By giving insight not just into Chris Moorman’s hands, but into his head, any reader will become a better poker player themselves.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/chris-moorman-the-inside-story-of-the-most-successful-online-poker-player-of-all-time-book-review/feed/0The Girl on the Velvet Swing by Simon Baatz – Book Reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-girl-on-the-velvet-swing-by-simon-baatz-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-girl-on-the-velvet-swing-by-simon-baatz-book-review/#respondWed, 21 Mar 2018 12:49:25 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=45628The Girl on the Velvet Swing – During the Gilded Age in America, circa the late 19th century to the early 20th century, things weren’t always so prim and proper. In fact, that age, which signalled a great deal of industrialization and geographical expansion, was also filled with plenty of corruption, exploitation, unrest, scandal and […]

]]>The Girl on the Velvet Swing – During the Gilded Age in America, circa the late 19th century to the early 20th century, things weren’t always so prim and proper. In fact, that age, which signalled a great deal of industrialization and geographical expansion, was also filled with plenty of corruption, exploitation, unrest, scandal and crime.

In fact, the latter two really came into play in 1906, when a so-called love triangle ended up being a tale of murder, forbidden sex and insanity. It took place in New York City, at a time when it had a reputation of being one of the great cities of the world. The dramatis personae were Stanford White, a prominent New York architect whose Renaissance and European-style designed buildings graced the landscape of New York City during that period and made him an instant celebrity; Harry K. Thaw, a spoiled rich kid from a wealthy Pittsburgh family who lived a playboy type of existence (which was highlighted every summer with a continent-wide trip to Europe); and the object of both White’s and Thaw’s affections: Evelyn Nesbit, a rather naïve 16-year-old waif who in 1901 was appearing in the chorus of the hit Broadway musical “Floradora”, and whose series of salon photographs that were taken while wearing a Japanese kimono were a rather early pin-up sensation.

Thaw married Nesbit in 1903. With a marriage that was rocked with Thaw’s bouts of heavy drinking and violent flashes of anger, Nesbit confessed to him that she had an affair with White (who was 30 years older than her) two years earlier and that he had gotten her intoxicated with alcohol and raped her while she was in that state of intoxication. Thaw, who was prone to violent, angry outbursts, angrily felt that White violated his wife’s honour, and he had to do something about it.

And on June 25, 1906, Thaw did that something to defend the honour of his violated wife. On the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden (which was designed by White), during the performance of a rather mediocre musical comedy called “Mamzelle Champagne”, Thaw approached Stanford White at his table, pulled out a revolver and shot him three times, killing him instantly. And within the immediate pandemonium that was caused as a result of the shooting, Thaw stood there at the scene of the crime and peacefully surrendered to the authorities, as he quietly handed over the pistol he used to gun down Stanford White in cold blood.

This violent crime of passion that involved this love triangle created headlines across the U.S., and the impending trials – which revealed a lot of lurid details, especially about White’s shocking private life thanks to Nesbit’s testimony – caused a scandal the likes that the newspaper-reading public has never seen before. And through all of that scandal, the main issue of the two trials was to prove if Harry K. Thaw was insane when he killed Stanford White, and if that would be proof enough to save him from the electric chair?

Author Simon Baatz recalls the story of the 20th century’s first “trial of the century” – with the same amount of lurid details – in his latest book The Girl on the Velvet Swing. By the way, the book’s title came from the label reporters who were covering the trial gave to Nesbit, which in turn was based on one of the activities she did as a guest at White’s apartment, which was to sit on his red velvet swing and swing high enough to break a strip of paper that was affixed close to the ceiling; it was also the title of a film about the crime, which was released in 1955 and starred Joan Collins.

The book is well-structured, as Baatz first tackles the individual background stories of White, Thaw and Nesbit, and the circumstances that brought them together on that fateful June evening on the Madison Square Garden roof. Next, with a great eye for detail, he recreates the actual murder as if you were just inches away from the crime scene (especially the graphic details of the impact the three shots had on White’s body). For the two trials in 1907 and 1908, Baatz uses the actual transcripts to deftly recreate the sensationalistic atmosphere that prevailed in the courtroom, especially when Nesbit revealed the scandalous details of her affair with White.

But perhaps the most interesting part of the book – which takes up most of the central part of the text – involves Thaw’s incarceration after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was held at the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminal Insane in Upstate New York for five years, at a time when insane asylums were rife with deplorable conditions, were subject to overcrowding and its patients/inmates were cruelly and brutally mistreated by the understaffed personnel. Thaw hoped to get a writ of habeas corpus, which in turn would have the warden sign a certificate of recovery that would expedite his release from Matteawan after only a few months inside. However, the warden repeatedly refused the request, which prompted Thaw to quietly escape from the institution in the summer of 1913.

Thaw managed to flee to Canada (in particular, a small Quebec town near the Maine border), where his extradition case made him a cause celebre. Basically, it was argued that there was a difference between escaping from an insane asylum than from a prison, and that he served his time and didn’t deserve to be sent back to the horrors of the Matteawan asylum. In fact, he practically became a local hero and overnight celebrity until he was officially released in 1915.

Both Thaw and Nesbit enjoyed brief flirtations with celebrity as a result of the Stanford White murder case. Thaw was tried for brutally assaulting a young man in 1917, and was sent to a more humane psychiatric institute for a lengthy period of time before he was released and moved to Miami Beach , where he lived comfortably until his death in 1947. Nesbit enjoyed a brief career in show business, first as a dancer on the vaudeville circuit, and then in silent pictures. After some unsuccessful business ventures and a battle with drug addiction that she conquered, Nesbit moved to live with her son and daughter-in-law in California, where she taught art classes, until she died in 1967.

Well-researched with a tabloid-style narrative that could satisfy any true crime buff, The Girl on the Velvet Swing is an absorbing book that gives a rather seedy side to the lace-laden era of progress and industrialization that was the Gilded Age. It’s a story filled with so much jealousy, lust, murder and sensationalism, it makes you believe that this particular period of American history was hardly “the age of innocence”.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/the-girl-on-the-velvet-swing-by-simon-baatz-book-review/feed/0Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit book review by Chris Matthewshttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/bobby-kennedy-a-raging-spirit-by-chris-matthews/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/bobby-kennedy-a-raging-spirit-by-chris-matthews/#respondFri, 09 Mar 2018 20:30:28 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=45288Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit – For a good part of his 42 years, Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy was seen as a hard-working, highly organized individual with a relentless pit bull sensibility about him. When he managed his older brother Jack’s senatorial campaigns of 1952 and 1958, and his historic presidential election campaign in 1960, it […]

]]>Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit – For a good part of his 42 years, Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy was seen as a hard-working, highly organized individual with a relentless pit bull sensibility about him. When he managed his older brother Jack’s senatorial campaigns of 1952 and 1958, and his historic presidential election campaign in 1960, it was Bobby’s job to make sure Jack looked really good when he met with and spoke to potential voters, as he did all the dirty work behind the scenes. It was basically the classic “good cop, bad cop” scenario when it came to Jack and Bobby Kennedy.

That all changed when he was appointed Attorney General in his brother’s cabinet, and started to become more sensitive to issues that were affecting the U.S., especially the Civil Rights movement. After JFK’s assassination, and when Bobby was elected as a U.S. Senator in 1964 and became a presidential candidate in 1968, he realized what was severely dividing the nation, and vowed to solve these problems in a more unified manner. On June 4, 1968, in the wake of his victory in the California Primary, and the Democratic nomination in sight, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by an assassin after his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; he was only 42 years old.

Chris Matthews, host of “Hardball” on MSNBC, practically grew up during Bobby Kennedy’s rise in politics and as a virtual “man of the people”. With this year marking the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s tragic death, Matthews gives a new generation of readers a new appreciation of Robert Francis Kennedy, the man and the public figure who wanted to do good for his country and his people in Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit.

Although Arthur Schelsinger’s massive 1978 biography Robert Kennedy and His Times is more thorough, Matthews’ book practically gives this generation of readers a more compact, yet no less informative, look at the life and political legacy of Bobby Kennedy.

Basically, Bobby, the third son, built his career ambitions to get the much sought-after approval from his father Joseph P. Kennedy, although his attentions were lavished upon his two elder sons, Joe, Jr. and Jack (and was sometimes regarded by Jack as a bit of a nuisance). This meant Bobby fought harder, worked harder and put himself through his paces much harder to get that approval, whether he was a student at Harvard, worked as counsel for Senator Joe McCarthy’s controversial anti-Communist committee, or as chief counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee that investigated organized crime in America, in which his blood feud-type grilling of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa in 1957 is the stuff of legend.

As well, Matthews traces the personal and political transformation of Bobby Kennedy, which took a 360-degree turn immediately after JFK’s assassination. The reader gets a clear picture of the complexities and the issues that played a major part in that transformation, and the matters that he took to his heart as the next phase of his career happened with his election to the U.S. Senate in 1964, and what guided him to seek the Democratic nomination for president four years later, which was not only a quest to unseat incumbent Lyndon Johnson (whom he had a long-running, vitriolic feud with since his Senate counsel days), but also try to heal a nation that was horribly divided by poverty, race riots, and the Vietnam War.

And Matthews sprinkles the text with some personal examples of how his own life and ambitions paralleled that of Bobby Kennedy’s during his lifetime, which doesn’t dominate the book, but gives it a rather interesting personal perspective. For example, Matthews was in Montreal at the time of Bobby’s death (he was travelling there with a college friend of his, who was looking for a job in order to avoid the draft), and as a result of it, what he believes was the loss of America’s last best hope to get the country together again, decided to serve his country by joining the Peace Corps and spending a year in southern Africa (Swaziland, in particular).

Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit is a concise, well-written appreciation of a much beloved public figure who enjoyed working within the shadow of his famous older brother, and became a political crusader who wanted to make a real difference for the people he was sworn to serve. And in today’s rather unpredictable, volatile political climate in the U.S. today, we can take away from reading Chris Matthews’ book about Bobby Kennedy and wonder how different the country would have been had Bobby was not struck down by an assassin’s bullet on that fateful June night 50 years ago in L.A.

As Kennedy told the overflowing crowd of supporters that night as he won the important California Primary (which somehow still resonates today): “I think we can end the divisions within the United States, whether it’s between blacks and whites, between the poor and the more affluent or between age groups or on the war in Vietnam. We can start to work together. We are a great country, an unselfish country. I intend to make that my basis for running.”

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/bobby-kennedy-a-raging-spirit-by-chris-matthews/feed/0Rock ‘n’ Radio by Ian Howarth – Book reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/rock-n-radio-ian-howarth-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/rock-n-radio-ian-howarth-book-review/#respondMon, 12 Feb 2018 22:01:15 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=44716Rock ‘n’ Radio – In the summer of 1970, my dad used to go to a lot of Montreal Expos games at Jarry Park. And every morning following the game in question, he would leave for me on his dresser a copy of the game programme magazine for my growing collection of sports programmes. One […]

]]>Rock ‘n’ Radio – In the summer of 1970, my dad used to go to a lot of Montreal Expos games at Jarry Park. And every morning following the game in question, he would leave for me on his dresser a copy of the game programme magazine for my growing collection of sports programmes.

One particular morning following an Expos game that season, the magazine wasn’t there. Instead, it was a record album that my dad told me later was given out to everyone who attended the game that night. It had a burgundy cover with photos of six individuals who I never heard of before, that were surrounded by gold picture frames, such as Ralph Lockwood, Roger Scott (whose haggard-looking appearance prompted my brother to call him “the vampire with a sore throat”) and Charles P. Rodney Chandler. It was called “Good Guys Gold”, and was a compilation album of selected top 40 hit songs from the late 60s (such as “Light My Fire”) which were played on CFOX, a popular Montreal top 40 radio station of that period, in which its studios were located in the West Island.

In a way, this was my formal introduction to the world of Montreal top 40 radio and its stable of wildly popular deejays. For the next decade, I alternated my radio listening habits between CKGM and CHOM. I was a devoted listener to Ralph Lockwood’s morning show, where I laughed out loud to many of his on air comedy shtick (and his “How’s Your Bird?” buttons were prized possessions amongst his fans), and Marc “Mais Oui” Denis’ bilingual patter as one-third of the station’s “Connection Francais”; and on CHOM, got exposed to soon-to-be classic rock albums on “Les Deux Faces”, and heard British-born announcer Doug Pringle interview some of the biggest names in rock music of the mid and late 70s on “The Pringle Program”. I even won one of the first rock albums I ever owned thanks to a CKGM listener phone-in contest (it was “Band on the Run” by Paul McCartney and Wings).

However, by the mid-1980s, the glory days of top 40 radio in Montreal began to fade, with many of its deejays going to greener pastures at radio stations west and south of Montreal, and its stations succumbing to numerous format changes and corporate ownership. If you are a baby boomer, and are feeling quite nostalgic about the days when listening to commercial AM and FM radio was fun and had a great deal of personality, then you will certainly enjoy Ian Howarth’s thoroughly researched nostalgia trip of a book Rock ‘n’ Radio.

Rock ‘N’ Radio By Ian Howarth book jacket – (Vehicule Press, $19.95)

The book focuses on the three decades that made up the glory years of rock radio stations in Montreal (the 60s, 70s and 80s), and in particular, the four stations that captured the attention of teenage listeners during that golden era: CKGM, CFCF, CFOX and CHOM (as well as its pre-1971 incarnation CKGM-FM). The story is told through profiles of the personalities that made it all happen in the broadcast booth and the front office, from Dave Boxer and Buddy Gee (whose rivalry for listeners between 1964 and 1968 helped to build the popularity of top 40 radio in Montreal), to Bob Gillies (who with “Lord Timothy” emceed the Rolling Stones’ first Montreal concert at the Maurice Richard Arena in 1965), to Mary Anne Carpentier (the CKGM traffic reporter who became a mainstay of Ralph Lockwood’s morning show), to the late Denis Grondin (who was one of CHOM’s pioneering bilingual deejays), to Geoff Stirling, the Nova Scotia native, whose astute business acumen, laid back style – not to mention his passion for Eastern religions – helped to make CKGM and CHOM major forces on the Montreal radio scene. As well, Howarth pays fitting tribute to those figures who were not necessarily behind the mike, but whose contributions to the Montreal music scene helped boost the popularity of Montreal radio, including rock concert promoter extraordinaire Donald “Donald K. Donald” Tarlton and local rock bands like J.B. and the Playboys and The Haunted.

Howarth, through countless interviews and impeccable research, recounts many of the stunts and anecdotes that these deejays pulled off or were involved with that helped to make listening to their broadcasts quite unique experiences. There was Dave Boxer’s petition to convince the Beatles to include Montreal on their 1965 tour schedule, following their not-so-pleasant experience during their two-show appearance at the Forum the year before (Boxer presented the signed petition to the group in London and although the Fab Four didn’t agree to return to Montreal, they agreed to give Boxer an exclusive interview, which he later aired on his CFCF show); then there was Ralph Lockwood’s stunt during the 1973 Grey Cup festivities, in which early on his Saturday morning broadcast, placed a surprise phone call to his friend (and former Montreal Alouettes player) “Crescent Street” Mike Widger at his hotel room in Toronto and play it live on the air, only to have a strange woman answer the phone before Widger got the chance to answer it; and perhaps one of the strangest, yet rarely reported incidents to hit the Montreal radio scene, which happened during the midst of the October Crisis of 1970, in which a small group of youthful FLQ supporters “broke into” CHOM’s Greene Avenue studios and “took over” the airwaves by continuously ranting about the FLQ’s agenda for Quebec live on the air, while pausing every so often to play some Led Zeppelin tunes until then-station general manager Jim Sward convinced them to quietly surrender to the police four hours later.

When one reads Rock ‘n’ Radio, the general impression that you get is that these deejays and front office people shared a deep passion for rock music and a career in radio playing hit rock songs and rock albums, and would do anything to reach that Montreal radio mecca, whether it be sacrificing promising careers in other fields or going on the path of working at radio stations in every medium-sized city or small town across Canada. And once they reached Montreal, would tirelessly do countless personal appearances at high school dances, community teen dances, rock concerts and store openings to maintain their high profile within their community of devoted listeners.

Rock ‘n’ Radio is a fascinating book that will certainly evoke plenty of Montreal radio memories for those who yearn for the days of “the Boss with the Hot Sauce”, the “Dean of Montreal”, Ralph “the Birdman” Lockwood’s cast of mostly politically-incorrect characters, or Charles P. Rodney Chandler’s exclusive live bedside broadcasts during John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-In for Peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. And unfortunately, thanks to large media companies swallowing up a lot of these stations – and changing their programming formats – those days when listening to radio was a fun, prize-winning experience are no longer with us. All we have are the memories, and this book happily brings them back to us.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/rock-n-radio-ian-howarth-book-review/feed/0Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff – Book reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fire-and-fury-by-michael-wolff-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fire-and-fury-by-michael-wolff-book-review/#respondThu, 08 Feb 2018 17:06:22 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=44633On the back of the dust jacket of Michael Wolff’s blockbuster bestseller Fire and Fury, there is a photo of President Donald Trump sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, while he is talking on the phone. During this phone conversation, Trump is surrounded by his close circle of advisors that were part of […]

]]>On the back of the dust jacket of Michael Wolff’s blockbuster bestseller Fire and Fury, there is a photo of President Donald Trump sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, while he is talking on the phone. During this phone conversation, Trump is surrounded by his close circle of advisors that were part of the Trump White House during this first crucial year of this controversial administration: Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Since the book was published last month, only two people in that Oval Office photo are still on the job: Trump and Pence. Either through resignation or firing, the other four former members of Trump’s White House staff are indicative of the volatile nature of what is going on within the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue these days, and the non-stop revolving door that is now an ubiquitous part of the Trump White House.

This is the unpredictable world of executive power that is prevalent through the narrative of Wolff’s book, which thanks to a lot of searing advance publicity, not only compelled the publisher to push up the publication date by four days, but immediately shot up to the #1 position on the New York Times bestseller list (and presently remains at that top spot).

After reading this scorcher of a behind-the-scenes account, one thing is clear to me: Fire and Fury may not exactly create the same powerful after effect to Donald Trump that Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s one-two journalistic punch All the President’s Men and The Final Days had on Richard Nixon as a result of Watergate … but it comes pretty darn close!

And when you finish reading this book, one thing is frighteningly clear: this is a White House in a harrowing state of disarray – or to put it bluntly – a mess!

Wolff, an award-winning journalist for such publications as Vanity Fair, New York, USA Today and The Hollywood Reporter, somehow managed to get himself unlimited access to the West Wing (where he basically planted himself on a couch there and acted like a perennial fly on the wall), and conducted more than 200 interviews with a number of senior staffers and the president himself.

The end result of his indefatigable interviewing and research is a narrative that will have small “l” liberals and rabid anti-Trump people wringing their hands with delight.

First of all, the main reason for this state of disarray in the Trump White House is the result of a three-way power struggle between the following factions with the sole purpose of currying and winning the president’s undivided attention for their respective agendas: former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who wanted to get Trump’s ear (and pull the executive strings) so he can run the White House with his governing concept of “Trumpism-Bannonism”; Reince Priebus and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who wanted to reach out to Trump with a more traditional Washington-style legislative agenda; and the duo of daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner (aka “Jarvanka”), who firmly believed that the president would rather listen to the counsel of family members than someone outside the Trump lineage who possessed more government or political experience (which proved, unfortunately, to be the winning formula … case in point, they approved Trump’s appointment of Anthony Scaramucci – who is portrayed as a questionable businessman and a rank opportunist – to the position of White House Communications Director, and held that post until he was fired 11 days later).

…And look at the commander-in-chief they tried to win their approval from: a person who has a short attention span, who didn’t listen to his close circle of advisors (who in turn, didn’t ever have a clear definition of their roles in the White House to begin with), who rarely read his briefing books, had no patience for high level meetings and left them early, was always fishing for compliments that would boost his growing ego (one glaring example is when he hosted MSNBC morning show co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzzezinski at the White House after his first week in office, and kept asking them “so how do you think the first week has gone?”), and spent his evenings in his bedroom watching TV, writing tweets and conducting a constant series of phone calls with friends in order to get more self-serving compliments.

And as Wolff plainly states in many of the vivid descriptions of Trump’s questionable character as president: “Trump was impetuous and yet did not like to make decisions, at least not ones that seemed to corner him into having to analyze a problem.”

I can readily understand that this book, the first to give a rather unflattering look at what is going on behind the scenes at the young Trump administration, will – and certainly has – gone through a whole lot of vetting regarding facts, factual errors and inconsistencies, insider denials and the character of Michael Wolff himself. But the narrative – which at times can be a little repetitive – has to be read carefully in order to savour and appreciate the task he set out to do, which was to give the public an unflinching portrait of the topsy-turvy world of the most accidental president in U.S. history.

And after the pre-publication controversies and blaring headlines, the string of books that are being released throughout this year dealing with the 2016 election and the Trump White House (including one by James Comey, the former FBI Director who was unceremoniously fired by Trump last year), the growing Russia probe, and the continuing examples of Trump’s unpredictability (which included labeling Democratic members of Congress as “treasonous”, because they did not applaud during his first State of the Union speech, and his demand to have a military parade staged based on what he saw during a Bastille Day parade last year during a state visit to Paris), people should realize the importance of Fire and Fury as being the first book to open their eyes to what really goes on in the Trump White House. Hopefully, they will come to these two conclusions as a result: this is not how a person should conduct themselves as President of the United States; and this is certainly not the way to govern a country that was built on democracy and freedom.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fire-and-fury-by-michael-wolff-book-review/feed/0Books you should read in Februaryhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/books-you-should-in-february/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/books-you-should-in-february/#respondSun, 28 Jan 2018 15:41:12 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=44318Books – One of your new year resolutions might have been to get your nose stuck in more books, or you might have an extremely busy schedule and you’re looking to wind down and take some time for yourself. No matter the reason, reading is always beneficial for your well-being and to stay up do […]

]]>Books – One of your new year resolutions might have been to get your nose stuck in more books, or you might have an extremely busy schedule and you’re looking to wind down and take some time for yourself. No matter the reason, reading is always beneficial for your well-being and to stay up do date with what’s being talked and written about. So here’s a selection of some of the books we’ve been enjoying in January, that you’ll hopefully pick up in February. Enjoy !

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

Recently adapted into a major motion picture, Call Me By Your Name is both a coming of age and a coming out story. A beautiful meditation on time, love and desire, André Aciman heartbreaklingy captures the pain when you love someone you have to let go. The love story between 17 year old Elio and 24 year old postgraduate student, Oliver, is a reflexion of self discovery and unashamed skin-to-skin contact with one another. The title of the novel reflects their relationship throughout the narrative, one of invitation and of elegy. Set in Italy in the 1980s, the novel not only depicts a truly honest encounter, but also Jewish traditions, art, literature, archaeology and languages. If you’re looking for a love story between two beautiful souls, this book is for you.

Call Be My Your Name by André Aciman

Mortality by Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens was an English writer and journalist, with degrees in philosophy, political science and science of economics. Many of his essays reflect political and religious issues, leading him to often be regarded as a controversial figure to some. His last novel, Mortality, is a reflection on his views on religion, the importance of love, friendships and solidarity in times of need. The memoir consists of seven chapters previously sent to Vanity Fair as separate essays. Now compiled into a novel, the final chapter consists of his unfinished words and “fragmentary jottings” that he wrote in his terminal days. If you’re looking for a reflection on life, love, religion and meaning of life in the face of death, pick up this book.

Mortality by Christopher Hitchens

Hemingway in Love His Own Story by A. E Hotchner

In one word, this book is beautiful. Hotchner offers a truly honest account of his time spent with Hemingway, accompanying him on his travels and giving him advice in times of need. The novel follows Hemingway as he struggles with love and loving two women at once, Pauline and Hadley. Often tarnished by his reputation, this honest account of Hemingway depicts a man who struggled with love, not knowing what to do and being heartbroken. If you’ve never read any of Hemingway’s poetry or prose, this book will kick-start a loving obsession over his writing, trust me, I’m now well into his third novel…

Hemingway in Love His Own Story by A.E Hotchner

The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben

The Inner Life of Animals offers an account of Peter Wholleben’s love for animals and what he has observed in nature and in animals throughout his life. It offers us an insight into the feelings and lives of domestic and wild animals, opening up some truths about the inner life of animals. Peter Wholleben makes you question your relationship to all animals, especially wild ones, and takes the time to poetically capture the lives of the animals he encounters. The Inner Life of Animals is an honest and true account of the love he feels to living creatures around us and how we should really be treating them as equals.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/books-you-should-in-february/feed/0Sticky Fingers by Joe Hagan Book Review – ‘Superstardom is not complete unless you get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone’http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/sticky-fingers/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/sticky-fingers/#respondThu, 25 Jan 2018 19:23:04 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=44267About 45 years ago, an offbeat rock group named Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show released a rather quirky single, in which they sang that achieving superstardom in the rock music world is not complete unless you get your “picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone”. Since John Lennon got his picture on the […]

]]>About 45 years ago, an offbeat rock group named Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show released a rather quirky single, in which they sang that achieving superstardom in the rock music world is not complete unless you get your “picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone”.

Since John Lennon got his picture on the cover of Rolling Stone’s first issue in the fall of 1967, this publication, which started amongst the world of underground newspapers in San Francisco with its original intention of being the literary voice of the youth culture of the late 60s, has become a much revered magazine of the rock ‘n’ roll era. It has turned record reviews, concert reviews and interviews with musicians and singers into a serious genre of journalism, thanks to the words of Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, Jon Landau, Ben Fong-Torres and Joe Ezterhas, amongst others; and it helped give birth to a new form of news-oriented journalism thanks to the unconventional writings of Tom Wolfe, Matt Taibbi and of course, Hunter S. Thompson. And topped off with the unique portrait-style photography of Annie Leibovitz, this crazy sundae of a publication became THE printed voice of the baby boomer generation who watched TV, listened to top 40 and FM radio, went to plenty of rock concerts and bought a lot of records.

However, the story of Rolling Stone wouldn’t be complete without telling the story of its creator Jann S. Wenner. Part journalistic maverick, part aspiring media baron, part glory hound, part spendthrift, part celebrity maven and part Machiavellian figure, Wenner lived his life through Rolling Stone. This has made him a fascinating and frustrating figure to those who knew him, worked with him, or had a passing interest in him.

Which is why Joe Hagan wisely decided to make his excellent – and dizzying – tome Sticky Fingers a dual biography, because both subjects go together hand-in-hand so snuggly.

On the magazine side, the book highlights 50 years of Rolling Stone’s greatest – and not-so-greatest — moments, from its breakthrough series of articles that exposed what happened at the tragic Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont in 1969 and why, to the series of articles by Hunter S. Thompson that evolved into “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, to the articles about the kidnapping ordeal of Patty Hearst, to the disastrous 10th anniversary TV special, to the lawsuit brought about by the investigative piece about the University of Virginia rape case. All of those behind the cover stories are told with plenty of excess and gory details, and makes for luridly fascinating reading that Rolling Stone itself would have gladly wrote about during its rebellious early years.

And in the middle of this 50-year three-ring circus was Jann Wenner, the product of a capital “D” dysfunctional family who found a refuge in rock music and journalism. The portrait you get of Wenner is an individual who loved the life of being a celebrity, would spend copious amounts of money to build up the prestige of Rolling Stone and his personal lifestyle (he threw large amounts of money at high profile contributors like Thompson and Richard Goodwin to produce columns and eyewitness articles for the publication, but in turn produced very little at best), at times had a low regard for value in friendships (case in point John Lennon, who didn’t speak to Wenner for a decade after he broke a promise that he wouldn’t publish in book form the monumental interviews with Lennon that originally appeared in Rolling Stone in 1970), was filled with sexual ambiguity (his marriage in name only to Jane Schindelheim and his constant quest for male lovers), and the many failed ventures he undertook to increase Rolling Stone’s presence and its monetary value (for example, the brief period of time during the early 70s when a British version of Rolling Stone was published, which was totally funded by Mick Jagger). In fact, after reading how Jann Wenner ran Rolling Stone in such a volatile, unpredictable manner, you wonder how this magazine managed to stay in business for as long as it did.

Although Hagan conducted over 240 interviews for this book and was officially approved by Wenner himself (Hagan even had access to his vast personal archives), Wenner probably regrets it after the final result. Sticky Fingers is a whirling dervish of a book about one of the most influential journalistic publications of the baby boomer era, which served as a literary keeper of the rock music flame, and the enigmatic, insecure, ego-driven man who guided it to its much revered legendary status.

As Hagan writes towards the end of the book: “Jann Wenner had tried to become a great American media mogul on the order of William Randolph Hearst. For a while he was successful, but he didn’t rate himself as a businessman now. He’d been too impulsive, fired too many people, took that loan. Rolling Stone – an idea so great it survived Janno’s management.”

…And 50 years later, it’s still regarded as a pinnacle of success if you get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone!

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/sticky-fingers/feed/0The Improv by Budd Friedman book reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/improv-budd-friedman/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/improv-budd-friedman/#respondFri, 12 Jan 2018 15:59:56 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=44012The Improv by Budd Friedman – Exactly 55 years ago, Budd Friedman, a former advertising executive and aspiring Broadway producer, returned to his native New York City to open up a night club on West 44th Street in the city’s Hell’s Kitchen district (but not far from the theatre district). It was called the “Improvisation”, […]

]]>The Improv by Budd Friedman – Exactly 55 years ago, Budd Friedman, a former advertising executive and aspiring Broadway producer, returned to his native New York City to open up a night club on West 44th Street in the city’s Hell’s Kitchen district (but not far from the theatre district).

It was called the “Improvisation”, and his original intention was to run a night spot for singers, musicians and especially the casts of the hit Broadway musicals of that period, to drop by after an evening’s performance to relax, unwind, enjoy reasonably-priced food, and maybe go on the club’s stage to perform an impromptu, or improvised, set to entertain the audience in attendance.

The Improvisation quickly became a success, attracting everyone from the cast of the hit Broadway musical “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, to Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli and up and comers like Better Midler, to enjoy the club’s relaxed atmosphere and maybe perform a number or two without the everyday pressures of putting on a good show. As the 60s progressed, the club began to attract another breed of performer, as established and neophyte comedians like Rodney Dangerfield and Richard Pryor began to perform at the club on a regular basis to try out their latest comic material.

By the 70s, the club shortened its name to “The Improv”, and it quickly became THE place in New York for stand-up comedians of all stripes to hang out with their comedic peers and try out and develop their material and comic personas in front of a live audience. By the time it opened up its Los Angeles club on Melrose in 1975, the Improv and its founder Budd Friedman not only was known for being the model of the comedy club that we know today, but it also became synonymous with being a training ground and star maker for some of the greatest names in stand-up comedy over the past 50 years, such as Robert Klein, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, Larry David, Andy Kaufman, Drew Carey, Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon.

“Without question, Budd is the father of modern-day stand-up. He made it possible for people to feel good about themselves with a real comedy audience,” said comedian Richard Lewis, who also got his beginnings at the Improv. “Budd Friedman was the first to give praise and recognition to great comedy and great comedians. He was the first guy to give real prestige to comedy. Budd turned us into stars.”

Gathering 55 years of memories, successes, setbacks and discoveries in the stand-up comedy world, Friedman has put together a memoir/oral history that is just as entertaining as the comedians who performed in front of the brick wall of its New York and Los Angeles locations, which is called, plainly enough, The Improv.

Friedman tells his story about the ups and downs of running such a legendary comedy club. But what gives this book so much balance and credence is that he allows the people who worked behind the scenes and the comedians who performed onstage the opportunity to tell their side of the story of the Improv. And what an impressive array of people who were interviewed for the book; besides the aforementioned people above, we get to hear from Judd Apatow, Bill Maher, Bob Saget, Chris Albrecht (who helped Friedman run the New York club and later became the head of HBO), Jimmie Walker, Paul Provenza, Danny Aiello (who started out as a bouncer at the Improv), David Steinberg and Jerry Stiller, amongst many others.

And what stories that are told: Rodney Dangerfield as an Improv fixture during the 60s (even after he opened his own comedy club in 1969); Friedman allowing a young Jay Leno to be regular after he found out that he commuted from Boston to New York three times in a row (his day job was to deliver cars for a Boston luxury car dealership) so that he can perform at the club; Friedman’s early recognition of the unorthodox comic genius of the late Andy Kaufman and Robin Williams; the tragic comic legacy of Freddie Prinze; Larry David’s rather erratic comic persona (in which one time he went onstage, surveyed that night’s audience, said “Nah,nah,nah, this isn’t going to work for me” and promptly left the stage); Bruce Smirnoff’s bizarre episode of driving a very inebriated, philandering Johnny Carson home from the Hollywood club in his Mercedes; and Friedman’s intense rivalry with dictatorial Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore.

Although he sold the Hollywood Improv club several years ago (the original New York club closed its doors back in 1992), and Friedman is basically retired from the highly pressurized world of running a pioneering comedy club, he has given comedy fans a terrific record of his contribution to the world of modern stand-up comedy with his book The Improv. It’s a highly enjoyable look at a man who wanted to be a big time Broadway impresario, but ended up being present at the creation of the stand-up comedy revolution and through the Improv, was a witness and driving force to the evolution of this entertainment genre, and the places we go to in order to appreciate it.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/improv-budd-friedman/feed/0Top books of 2017 by Stuart Nulman – Two authors from Montrealhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-books-2017-stuart-nulman-two-authors-montreal/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-books-2017-stuart-nulman-two-authors-montreal/#respondFri, 05 Jan 2018 21:51:52 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=43867Top books of 2017 – Since 2008, the first Book Banter column of the new year always meant taking one last look at the year before and see which books stood out for me over the previous 12 months. This past year, like ever other year, I read an average of 50 books, so that […]

]]>Top books of 2017 – Since 2008, the first Book Banter column of the new year always meant taking one last look at the year before and see which books stood out for me over the previous 12 months. This past year, like ever other year, I read an average of 50 books, so that it can be reviewed in the pages of The Montreal Times every week. Choosing a book to review is always done through a personal process of elimination, and that same process is done as I decided which were my favourite books of 2017.

Somehow, but not intentionally, the overlying common thread of my choices had more of a local slant. Although I am a big booster for Montreal authors and Montreal publishers, a good deal of books that stood out for me in 2017 were either published locally, or written by an author who was born in Montreal or currently resides here. It’s a strong testimony to how Montreal still has a thriving, nurturing literary scene.

Game Change by Ken Dryden and Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza. These are my choices for book of the year. Dryden, who spent his entire Hall of Fame career minding the nets for the Montreal Canadiens throughout its six-Stanley Cup dynasty during the 70s, has distinguished himself as a best selling author of hockey books of a high quality. This time, he focuses on the career of NHL journeyman Steve Montador, who died at the age of 35 from complications of numerous concussions and blows to the head throughout his pro hockey career. Intelligently written and meticulously thought out, this book is a searing indictment against the NHL’s indifference to the issue of head injury and concussion prevention for its players, and how helmets should have a much higher safety standard. It’s one of the best hockey books that I have read in a very long time.

Pete Souza, who was the official White House photographer during the Obama administration, took over two million photos of the 44th President of the United States and his family throughout his two terms as POTUS. He had the unenviable task of selecting about 150 of his best images for this beautifully-produced coffee table volume, and he has succeeded with flying colours. From Obama’s first inauguration in 2009 to his Washington farewell eight years later, and every public and private function in between, Souza’s chosen photographs have painted a portrait of Barack Obama as – if nothing else – a very human President, and how someone who is subsequently elected to this high office should be like.

Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg by Todd Barry. Usually, many books that are written by stand-up comics are either a collection of their stand-up routines or autobiographical essays. Barry, a veteran stand-up comic in his own right, takes a much refreshing approach to this genre by offering a comedy travelogue, as we follow him on a year-long journey along the road, as he performs in a number of medium and small-sized venues in towns and cities across the U.S. Whether he shares with us some interesting anecdotes of the clubs he performed at, or his favorite tourist attractions or restaurants that he likes to frequent at each stop, this book gives comedy fans an inside look at probably one of the most soul sapping aspects of being a stand-up comedian, and why they really define the expression “road warriors”.

Montreal 1909 by Robert N. Wilkins. A longtime Montreal historian, Wilkins writes a month-by-month, day-by-day examination of a Montreal that is no more. Extensively researching through the archives of the Montreal Gazette and the much-lamented Montreal (Daily) Star, we get a portrait of Montreal in the year 1909 through the events and happenings of both an important and mundane nature. This includes the movement towards cleaner water, the size of telephone poles, a Montreal “homecoming” weekend, and a commission of inquiry into corruption at city hall (which was chaired by a gentleman named – oddly enough – Coderre).

50 Years of 60 Minutes by Jeff Fager. This season marks the 50th anniversary of CBS’ “magazine for television”, which put the genre of investigative journalism into a much higher level, and made CBS correspondents like Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Harry Reasoner, Leslie Stahl, Ed Bradley and Diane Sawyer major TV stars. Fager, who currently serves as 60 Minutes’ executive producer, gives an absorbing behind-the-scenes look at the show’s half-century evolution as a TV news pioneer, from the greatest (and not so greatest) stories, to the origin of its trademark ticking stopwatch logo.

Full review:

Rock ‘n’ Radio by Ian Howarth – The book is a perfect nostalgia trip for Montrealers who grew up listening to the likes of Dave Boxer, Buddy Gee, Ralph Lockwood, Doug Pringle and Too Tall during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Focusing on CFCF, CFOX, CKGM and CHOM, Howarth has written a lively, anecdotal history of the golden age of Montreal Top 40 and FM radio, when the DJs ruled the local airwaves with their own unique character traits and had a mission to expose their devoted listeners to the hit songs (and albums) of the rock era during those three decades (not to mention winning a whole bunch of great prizes, from concert tickets to free records).

In the Name of Humanity by Max Wallace. Wallace, a Montreal-born investigative journalist by trade, writes an excellent piece of “hidden history”, as he traces the efforts (successful and unsuccessful) of certain Jewish individuals and organizations throughout World War II that had the almost insurmountable goal of rescuing as many European Jews as possible from Hitler’s deadly network of concentration and extermination camps. One highlight in the book is his detailed account of the “deal with the devil” conducted in 1944 with SS chief Heinrich Himmler to rescue about a million Jews from the Holocaust, which almost reads like a Frederick Forsyth thriller novel.

Great Conversations by Peter Anthony Holder – Subtitled “My Interviews with Two Men on the Moon And a Galaxy of Stars”, this book is a collection of celebrity interviews that Holder conducted over the past 28 years for both his CJAD radio show and “Stuph File Program” podcast. From Buddy Ebsen, to Cloris Leachman, to Burt “Robin” Ward, to Carol Channing, to Thurl Ravenscroft (the longtime voice of Tony the Tiger), each featured interview (and their respective background stories) shows Holder’s passion for baby boomer era pop culture and the celebrities who inhabited that period. His skills as an interviewer is also quit evident in the book, as he manages to get a lot of entertaining responses and stories from his interview subjects, which is why this book so much fun to read.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-books-2017-stuart-nulman-two-authors-montreal/feed/0How We Did It by Karl Subban – Book reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/karl-subban-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/karl-subban-book-review/#respondWed, 20 Dec 2017 15:38:24 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=43563How We Did It by Karl Subban – Karl Subban certainly knows how to motivate, inspire and bring the best out of young people. He has been doing that for over 20 years as a schoolteacher and principal in Toronto; and with his wife Maria, raised five children to follow their dreams and realize their […]

]]>How We Did It by Karl Subban – Karl Subban certainly knows how to motivate, inspire and bring the best out of young people. He has been doing that for over 20 years as a schoolteacher and principal in Toronto; and with his wife Maria, raised five children to follow their dreams and realize their potential. His two daughters Taz and Tasha followed in his footsteps to become educators; and sons P.K., Jordan and Malcolm are enjoying successful careers as professional hockey players in the National Hockey League.

Karl, who just recently retired from his educational career, realized that working with children as a parent, teacher and as a coach has been his life’s passion. And he also realized that he wanted to write a book – and do some public speaking engagements – about what it was like to be a motivating force as a father and educator.

“I didn’t know what the content of the book would be. But as the boys (P.K., Jordan and Malcolm) climbed the hockey ladder, our story became more of a public story and became really intriguing to so many people,” he said. “From that came the question ‘how we did it?’ And then I figured it would be good to write a book as an answer to that question.”

Karl Subban holding his book “How we did it”

The end result is How We Did It, a combination memoir and how-to book, that chronicles Karl’s life from his origins in Jamaica; to the struggles of living the Canadian dream first in Sudbury and then Toronto; to switching his dreams of professional sports glory in hockey and basketball to being an educational force in the classrooms of Metro Toronto; to being a caring, nurturing and inspiring father to a family of five children.

During a recent interview at a downtown Montreal hotel as part of his cross-country tour to promote the book (which also included an appearance and book signing at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, where P.K. currently plays as a member of the Nashville Predators), Karl admits the book’s overlying message is how the idea of potential is more like a lens through how people see all children.

“I want children to believe in their potential, and want them to use it,” he said. “Life will doubt them and they will doubt themselves as they chase their dreams. But I never ever want them to lose faith in their potential, which is their ability to become something down the road, and represents their skills, abilities and talents.”

Another overlying message that the book conveys is how it’s OK for parents to have dreams for their children when they’re young, so it could help them develop their own dreams and ambitions as they get older. “There is nothing wrong with that. There is one quote that has guided me as a parent and a leader, and that is ‘clear the way, pave the way, and get out of the way.’ My job as a parent was to pave the way for my children to dream, so that they can take up the baton or come up with their own dream,” he said.

For Karl, who is a diehard hockey fan – especially of the Montreal Canadiens (his all-time favorite player on the team is Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden) – for 47 years, that idea of dreaming for his children really came in the form of seeing his three sons develop careers in pro hockey, which started at an early age and realized that it would be a career for them when all three were drafted by the same minor league hockey team, the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), which led to P.K., Malcolm and Jordan getting drafted into the NHL via the Canadiens, Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, respectively.

And through the long trail of years of early mornings and travelling thousands of miles to get their sons to games (and watch them play), both Karl and Maria gave their unconditional love and support as they made their way to the NHL. “I never confused my role between a dad and a hockey dad. I wanted to be more of a dad, because that was my first responsibility. And I believe that Maria and me created the right environment for the boys to develop as hockey players,” he said. “We provided them with unconditional love and support; that was a given. I mean, we just didn’t love P.K. more because he scored a goal, or loved Malcolm more because he stopped a goal.”

“However, there were times that I did get carried away as both a dad and a hockey dad; you’re always learning and growing as a parent, and there was no one to give us a manual or a 1-800 phone number to call. We wanted our kids to get better, and it was the mindset of me and Maria to get better as time went on and we did just that,” he added.

Karl believes that if a career in hockey didn’t pan out for his three sons, they would certainly follow the career path that was taken by their sisters Taz and Tasha in the educational field. “Thanks to the environment they grew up in, they love children. It’s natural for them to be with their nieces and nephews, pick them up and play with them,” he said. “I really believe that they would have been educators like my two daughters. People don’t always do what we tell them to do, they do what we do.”

And although P.K. has been playing with the Predators for nearly two years since that blockbuster trade that sent him to Nashville, Karl is amazed at how the Canadiens fans have never forgotten his contributions to the team in particular, and the Montreal community in general during his time with the Habs (which included winning the Art Ross Trophy for best defenceman).

“Hockey is a religion here in Montreal. And for the average Canadiens fan, they revere all the players; and that’s how many fans in the city feel about P.K., because of the way he plays the game, his personality, and the work he has done in the city,” he said. “It’s a love affair that’s not going to end anytime soon.”

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/karl-subban-book-review/feed/0100: A Century of NHL Memories – Book Reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/100-century-nhl-memories-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/100-century-nhl-memories-book-review/#respondFri, 08 Dec 2017 14:55:40 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=43182100: A Century of NHL Memories – This season marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Hockey League (NHL), which was formally established at Montreal’s legendary Windsor Hotel; at the time, only four teams made up the league during its inaugural season. Over the past century, whether you followed the Canadiens, Maroons, […]

]]>100: A Century of NHL Memories – This season marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Hockey League (NHL), which was formally established at Montreal’s legendary Windsor Hotel; at the time, only four teams made up the league during its inaugural season.

Over the past century, whether you followed the Canadiens, Maroons, Leafs, Rangers, Bruins, Americans, Black Hawks, Oilers, Senators or the Mighty Ducks, hockey fans across Canada and the United States followed the fast-paced excitement of their favourite NHL teams in action, as they made their way game-by-game, goal-by-goal towards its logical conclusion: the winning of the Stanley Cup.

Guy Lafleur

Hockey fans followed their favourite teams either by catching them live at games in their home arena, by reading accounts of games in the newspapers, or tuning in to the team’s local broadcasts on radio or television.

However, the greatest – and not so greatest – moments from the NHL’s past 100 years have been brilliantly recaptured, in a so-called “frozen in time” manner, by photographs that have appeared in books, newspapers, magazines or team game day program books. And the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto is the greatest repository of the NHL’s history in photographs, with more than three million snapshots lovingly preserved and stored within its massive archives.

Phil Pritchard, the Hockey Hall of Fame’s main curator, and journalist Jim Hynes had the insurmountable task of sifting through that three million-strong photo archive to choose 130 images for a book that represented what has made the NHL such a dominant sports league since 1917. And they accomplished that task quite admirably with their book 100: A Century of NHL Memories.

The book, which features photos in both black and white and colour, represent many aspects of NHL life on the ice, from the heroes, to the goalies, to the coaches, to the rough stuff, to the unusual moments, to that moment when players get the rare honour of hoisting the Stanley Cup over their heads.

When the reader glances at these chosen photos that make up the book, they can’t resist the tendency to take a closer look at some of the smallest of details that may not dominate the photo in question, but still plays a part in what is being portrayed in this photographic canvas. Case in point, a photo taken at the Montreal Forum before a game between Montreal and Chicago in January of 1959, as the players are standing during the playing of the national anthems. I couldn’t help but notice the uniforms of the Black Hawks, in which the players’ numbers were on their shoulders and the “C” and crossed tomahawks logo was midway on their sleeves (which were switched around by the 1960-61 season).

Other favourite photos in the book include goalie Glen Hall lighting up a cigarette (with a bottle of 7Up by his side) in his team’s locker room following a game against the Canadiens in 1957; the serious looks on the faces of the 1928 Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers during a reception with then-New York Mayor Jimmie Walker; a young Maurice Richard glancing at the taped straight blade of his hockey stick before a game during the 1940s; Frank Mahovlich and Andy Hebenton being mobbed by young autograph-seeking fans following a game at Maple Leaf Gardens as they waited to be called as two of the three stars of the game; Leafs coach Punch Imlach sipping champagne with the Stanley Cup in front of him after his team won it in 1963, with the message “No practice tomorrow” written on the blackboard behind him; and different points-of-view of two of the most famous Stanley-Cup winning goals in NHL history: Bill Barilko in 1951 and Bobby Orr in 1970.

The book is also a visual testament to how the art of photographing hockey games evolved over the past century, from the time when the photographer and a couple of spotlights placed at each goal zone allowed for shots that gave a rather shadowy, spotlight type of photo that focused only on the players; to remote control cameras that allowed more polished colour photos (and included the fans in the stands as background); to cameras concealed in boxes in the back of the goaltender’s net to give a unique perspective of the fast and furious action of today’s NHL.

100: A Century of NHL Memories is a book that is a must-have for any hockey fan past or present. Through the lenses of the game’s many legendary photographers, the book offers a treasure trove of classic images of what has made the NHL one of the oldest and most successful professional sports leagues, and how its greatest players and coaches made hockey a rite of winter for so many generations of fans who enjoyed watching the game, or were inspired to take up the stick and skates and follow their own pro hockey careers.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/100-century-nhl-memories-book-review/feed/0Top 5 books for Christmas giftshttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-5-books-christmas-gifts/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-5-books-christmas-gifts/#respondMon, 27 Nov 2017 18:28:48 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=42806Top 5 books for Christmas gifts – The Christmas holiday season is upon us again, and that means shopping to get your friends and loved ones – hopefully – the right gift that they always wanted or needed. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn’t. However, there is one type of Christmas gift that practically […]

]]>Top 5 books for Christmas gifts – The Christmas holiday season is upon us again, and that means shopping to get your friends and loved ones – hopefully – the right gift that they always wanted or needed. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn’t. However, there is one type of Christmas gift that practically never makes its way to the returns and/or exchange line as of December 26: books. Between September and December, publishers bring out a multitude of high profile key titles that will not only grab the attention of potential readers, but also those who need a good gift idea or two while they do their Christmas shopping. After reading my fair share of key Fall 2017 titles, here are my Top 5 books for Christmas gifts / shopping and/or wish list:

Montreal 1909 by Robert N. Wilkins (Shoreline, $35). Local historian Robert N. Wilkins really has a passion for Montreal’s history, and it shows in a big way with his latest book Montreal 1909. Basically, it’s a month-by-month, day-by-day look at what went on in Montreal – both significant and mundane – throughout the year of 1909. Why Wilkins chose that year is unclear (the only significant event that took place that year that Montrealers still remember was the establishment of the Montreal Canadiens), but the book is an absorbing snapshot of a Montreal that is no more (whether it be the growing concern regarding the height of telephone and telegraph poles, the outbreak of tuberculosis, the constant corruption at city hall, the declining quality of the city’s water supply, and the planning of a much-anticipated event that would attract a multitude of former Montreal residents called “Old Home Week”).

Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster, $45). Isaacson, who has a knack of writing books about the lives of remarkable innovators like Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs that became mammoth best sellers, has turned his focus on the original “Renaissance man”, painter/inventor/scientist Leonardo Da Vinci. He traces Da Vinci’s astronomical talent and genius through the many notebooks that he noted down and drew his theories and studies that resulted in many of his artistic masterpieces and inventions that are still being used today (i.e., his flying machine that formed the basis of the airplane). Also, the book is beautifully put together, and is lavishly illustrated with many photos that makes this bio almost resemble a museum catalogue.

Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza (Little, Brown, $52). It’s been almost a year since Barack Obama finished his two terms as the 44th President of the United States, yet he still fascinates us (and in some respects, we still miss him). Souza, who has been Obama’s official photographer from the time he was a junior senator from Illinois right until his last day at the White House, has used his camera to effectively chronicle his remarkable career in politics, and the end result is this wonderful coffee table book that recently reached the #1 spot on the New York Times best seller list. Although he took over two million photos of Obama during his time as president, Souza has done a remarkable job choosing the right photos for this book that shows the many sides of Barack Obama … as the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, as a father and husband, and as a warm, compassionate human being, whether it be during some light-hearted behind the scenes moments, official events and ceremonies, or moments that tested his will and his country’s will. It’s almost like we get an exclusive backstage pass look at what it’s like to be the President of the United States. And the book is also available in a deluxe limited edition that is autographed by Souza, printed on heavy matte art stock paper, encased in an embossed cloth slipcase, and includes a print that is suitable for framing (and sells for $200).

The Jacksons Legacy (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, $38.99). It’s hard to believe that it’s been 50 years since a group of brothers from Gary, Indiana made their debut as a singing group that in 1969, were signed by Motown records and as the Jackson 5, had their first four singles reach the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 record charts. To commemorate the Jacksons’ golden anniversary, the family has put together an impressive illustrated history of their remarkable career in the pop music industry (both as a group and as solo artists), using countless artifacts and memorabilia from their personal archives (which includes candid photos, magazine articles and covers, record sleeves, frames from their TV specials and animated Saturday morning series, and even the Post cereal boxes that included a cut out record on the back), the Jackson family shows how they carved out their place in the history of rock music, which at times was not always easy as “ABC”.

Stephen Colbert’s Midnight Confessions by Stephen Colbert (Simon & Schuster, $26.99). This book is the ultimate stocking stuffer this Christmas. Based on a regular feature from his nightly CBS talk show “The Late Show”, Colbert displays his glib, pointed sense of humour in a collection of “midnight confessions” that deal with his brief take on a whole variety of topics, whether it be everyday life, religion, family life, technology, or America, which are funny, provocative, or sometimes downright outrageous (my favorite confession of Colbert’s is “I haven’t finished a book in twenty years. Don’t tell me how the Bible ends. I think Jesus is gonna pull this one out.”). The book also includes Midnight Confessions from a number of Late Show viewers, and a section at the end of the book where you can write your own confessions.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-5-books-christmas-gifts/feed/0Expozine 2017 : Huge Annual Book Fairhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/expozine-2017-huge-annual-book-fair/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/expozine-2017-huge-annual-book-fair/#respondSun, 26 Nov 2017 15:47:13 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=42752Expozine – If you’re looking for a fun activity with family and friends to fill your Sunday, look no further. Expozine is Montreal’s huge annual book fair, putting forward small and local press, unique editors, independent writers and artists both local and international as well as Montreal’s publishing scene. There will be over 250 stands […]

]]>Expozine – If you’re looking for a fun activity with family and friends to fill your Sunday, look no further. Expozine is Montreal’s huge annual book fair, putting forward small and local press, unique editors, independent writers and artists both local and international as well as Montreal’s publishing scene. There will be over 250 stands at Expozine this year.

Expozine 2017

Expozine will be taking place at the Saint-Denis church, next to Laurier metro station. The entrance to the event is FREE and accessible for wheelchairs. During the event today, there will be coffee and snacks offered, so you can browse around your favourite books while eating tasty local food. The event will start today at 11:00 a.m and will end at 6:00 p.m. Expozine has been a growing event throughout the years, and encourages a whole new generation of creators to come together. The various editorial structures and the different forms of presentations, allows Expozine to promote the emergence of unique practises, all in a context of a multilingual exhibition. Click here to access their Facebook page for more information. Make sure to tag us in your pictures using the #MTLtimes if you attend.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/expozine-2017-huge-annual-book-fair/feed/0Ken Dryden – Game Change / What have we learned?http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/ken-dryden-game-change/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/ken-dryden-game-change/#respondThu, 23 Nov 2017 14:40:13 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=42692Ken Dryden – Game Change – Ken Dryden, the Hall of Fame goaltender who was part of the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1970s that saw them win six Stanley Cups throughout that decade (including four Cups in a row between 1976 and 1979), has always loved the game of hockey. And although he hung […]

]]>Ken Dryden – Game Change – Ken Dryden, the Hall of Fame goaltender who was part of the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1970s that saw them win six Stanley Cups throughout that decade (including four Cups in a row between 1976 and 1979), has always loved the game of hockey.

And although he hung up his skates as a player nearly 40 years ago, Dryden’s love of the game has never wavered. It has transcended into five bestselling books, including his classic 1982 memoir The Game, and his 1989 book Home Game that looked at how hockey has played a role in Canadian society. And now in his latest book Game Change, Dryden has focused his love of the game of hockey to an issue that has recently affected many current and former players in a devastating manner that is becoming a growing concern in both professional and amateur hockey: head injuries and concussions.

Game Change tells the story of the late Steve Montador, a player who worked his way up the ranks of professional hockey to become a reliable and likable defenceman with such NHL teams as the Calgary Flames, the Florida Panthers and the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2000s. However, Montador absorbed a lot of heavy body checks during his time with the NHL, which resulted in countless concussions and he ended up with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a traumatic brain disorder … which was diagnosed only after Montador’s death in 2015 at the age of only 35.

But why did Dryden choose to relate Montador’s tragically short life and his struggles with head injuries that were sustained on the ice for the book, instead of a more high profile player like Eric Lindros, who had to cut short his NHL career because he sustained too many concussions?

“To write about concussions, you have to write about a person. You have to write about a life, and what a life feels like when you have concussions,” said Dryden during a one-on-one interview last month while he travelling across the country to promote the book. “If it would have been about Lindros, it would have been about a star, and somehow, the ‘starness’ of him would have taken over. I wanted the book to be about somebody who was a lot like most players.”

“Before Steve died, he was not living a nice life. He was having big memory problems. His father told me the story about after Steve died, he went to his car dealer, who told him that he had Steve on his speed dial when he lived in California, because he was losing his car keys so often, he had to press a button on his phone to be contacted with the dealer in Toronto to get a new set of keys made. As well, he was suffering from chronic depression and anxiety, and had problems sorting out fairly simple questions that were usually easy for him,” he added.

One of the major reasons why Game Change is such a compelling book to read is that Dryden tells the story of Steve Montador’s tragically short life and his struggle with CTE by interspersing that narrative with juxtapositions of how the game of hockey has developed since the first officially recognized ice hockey game was played at McGill University in 1875, which he includes the creation of the NHL in 1917, the evolution of the game, the 1967 NHL expansion, the evolution of hockey equipment, how other NHL players suffered and dealt with the effects of head injuries, and how science is trying to detect and prevent related brain injuries that are sustained on the ice.

“These are all significant parts of the story because when I am telling the story of a life, science had to be part of it, and because when people think about it, you got to address it; you got to find out the extent to which it is part of the answer, and to the extent to which it isn’t. If you don’t, then your audience is going to say ‘well, it’s all about science’,” he said. “And I knew it also had to do with the history of the game, and if you really know the game, you would know this game has changed utterly since it started back in 1875. And players and coaches have always changed it, always finding new ways of doing things. I wanted to weave all of those things together because they are all related to each other.”

Dryden firmly believes that the main problem regarding NHL players getting way too many concussions and head injuries is their on-ice shifts that are becoming shorter and shorter (averaging about 35 seconds per shift, as opposed to about two minutes per shift during the 50s, 60s and 70s).

“Those two minute shifts meant there was all kinds of open ice, there was not that much contact, and that allowed a lot of time for things to happen,” he said. “Now shifts are about 35 seconds each, which means there’s almost no space, players are moving much faster on the ice, and there are many more forceful collisions, and that’s where the danger comes in. And the most dangerous part is not the stick, or the elbow, it’s the player’s body because it’s bigger and moves much faster. If the brain is hit by a stick, or an elbow, or a shoulder, it doesn’t distinguish whether it’s intentional or not, it’s a blow to the brain.”

And Dryden believes that the NHL referees in particular and the league in general must be much stricter when it comes to enforcing players who inflict checks or other blows that result in head injuries or concussions on opposing players. “It’s always about the case of the perpetrator, but what about the guy who gets hit? He may look all right, but it may well be that he is not all right, while the other guy gets a two- or five-minute penalty. That’s not quite fair, not quite necessary and not quite right,” he said. “What it should be is quite simple: if you give another player a hit to the head, there are no excuses; you’re gone!”

Game Change is probably one of the most important books about the game of hockey today, and one of the most serious medical issues that is affecting current and former players that until recently has been paid a great deal of lip service at best. Ken Dryden shows that he still loves and cares for the game of hockey that has given him so much fame and adulation, and has written the story of the late Steve Montador and how he has become the face of how head injuries can have a devastating effect both on and off the ice, with a great deal of thoroughness, intelligence and humanity. Basically, he wants us to remember Steve Montador for how he played the game of hockey and loved every minute of it, instead of how he died as a result of it.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/ken-dryden-game-change/feed/0Fifty Years of 60 Minutes by Jeff Fagerhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fifty-years-60-minutes-book-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fifty-years-60-minutes-book-review/#respondMon, 20 Nov 2017 14:48:24 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=42602Fifty Years of 60 Minutes – At 10 p.m., on the evening of Tuesday, September 24, 1968, a new chapter in television news programming began. Veteran CBS News correspondents Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner sat in armchairs in a New York TV studio with a giant magazine superimposed between them. Reasoner welcomed the viewers to […]

]]>Fifty Years of 60 Minutes – At 10 p.m., on the evening of Tuesday, September 24, 1968, a new chapter in television news programming began. Veteran CBS News correspondents Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner sat in armchairs in a New York TV studio with a giant magazine superimposed between them.

Reasoner welcomed the viewers to a new show called “60 Minutes”; he proclaimed it as “a kind of magazine for television”. As the cover of the “magazine” opened for its inaugural season, one of its early major stories featured an interview Wallace conducted with Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon, who told Wallace – rather ironically – that he hoped to “restore respect to the presidency at all levels by my conduct.”

60 minture reporters

This new venture in TV news was the brainchild of Don Hewitt, the ambitious, colorful executive producer who cut his teeth with such legendary news shows as “See It Now” with Edward R. Murrow and “The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite”. Actually, it was more like a project to keep Hewitt busy, after he was kicked upstairs in 1965 from his position as executive producer of the evening news by then-CBS News president Fred Friendly, who found Hewitt to be too flashy of an individual, and in his eyes, did not fit the image of someone who should be running CBS News’ flagship TV newscast.

This year marks the 50th anniversary season of this magazine for television, and its cover has never closed. Thanks to the reporting and story telling expertise of its stable of seasoned correspondents like Wallace, Reasoner, Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Lesley Stahl, Diane Sawyer, Anderson Cooper and Scott Pelley, “60 Minutes” has set the standards to the golden level of how a TV newsmagazine should be run. Whether it was a revealing celebrity profile, an exclusive interview with a headlining-making newsmaker, an expose of wrongdoing (complete with hidden camera footage and an ambush-style interview with Wallace), a breaking story, a news story with plenty of hidden angles, or a slice-of-life story that not many viewers were aware of, many people thought it was an honour – or a burden – to be the subject of a “60 Minutes” piece … and millions of people have practically made it their Sunday nights at 7 viewing habit for just as long as the show’s been on the air.

To mark 60 Minutes’ golden anniversary, Jeff Fager, the show’s current executive producer, has compiled a lavishly-illustrated book filled with plenty of highlights, behind-the-scenes stories and controversies that are just as intriguing and fascinating as what is presented on the broadcast every week: Fifty Years of 60 Minutes.

This is a season-by-season, decade-by-decade look back at how “60 Minutes” became one of the most influential broadcasts in TV news that somehow managed to get high ratings for more than 40 of its 50 years. Fager does that by recounting some of the show’s greatest – and not so greatest – journalistic moments, many of which the reader who is a regular 60 Minutes viewer will fondly recall watching when these mentioned pieces first aired. There’s Morley Safer’s nostalgic look at the Orient Express railway as he embarked on its final voyage; Mike Wallace’s expose of the fraudulent Murietta health spa; Dan Rather donning Afghan garb as he went “undercover” with Afghan rebels during the early years of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; the landmark 1983 piece about Lenell Geter, who was jailed for a crime he didn’t commit but thanks to 60 Minutes’ example of thorough investigative journalism, proved that Geter was innocent and was later released from prison; the story about President George W. Bush’s questionable military record during the Vietnam War that practically destroyed Dan Rather’s journalism career; Mike Wallace’s exclusive interview with Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini at the offset of the 1979-80 hostage crisis, in which he delicately asked him the question about what he thought about Egyptian President Anwar Sadat calling him a lunatic; and Lesley Stahl’s interview with Donald Trump and his family shortly after his stunning upset victory over Hillary Clinton during last year’s presidential election, in which he promised he will be “very restrained” in regards to his use of Twitter when he became president. And the list just goes on…

And to add a sense of balance, Fager offers plenty of behind the camera stories of what goes on as these stories are being put together, whether it be on the field or in the hectic atmosphere of 60 Minutes’ New York offices. You will get to witness the fiery weekly shouting matches that went on between Mike Wallace and Don Hewitt as they go through the post production vetting of the former’s pieces that were set to air; Wallace’s trolling the hallways as he looked out to steal stories ideas from his fellow correspondents; the CBS management and 60 Minutes personnel who always looked forward to hearing from Hewitt – no matter what time of day it was – about future story or broadcast ideas, which was always punctuated with him saying “Kid, I’ve got a great idea for you”; to how Hewitt gave future contributor Andy Rooney a second chance after his first “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” segment (which dealt with the Fourth of July) practically bombed when it aired in 1978.

Fifty Years of 60 Minutes is a wonderful appreciation of a show that had no hope of surviving its first season in 1968, has now become one of the longest-running shows on television that has set high standards in the annals of broadcast journalism, where the emphasis is not only on the facts, but also telling a good story with a great deal of quality and integrity. After reading this book, you can certainly admit that “60 Minutes” has earned its golden stopwatch; and I hope it never stops ticking!

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/fifty-years-60-minutes-book-review/feed/0Montreal Book Fair 2017http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/montreal/montreal-book-fair-2017/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/montreal/montreal-book-fair-2017/#respondSat, 04 Nov 2017 11:00:56 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=42010Book Fair – The Montreal Book Fair is a long held tradition in the city, and this year it will be happening once again at the Place Bonaventure from November 15th until November 20th 2017. The Montreal Book Fair is open to anybody interested in any kind of genre of books. Not only will there […]

]]>Book Fair – The Montreal Book Fair is a long held tradition in the city, and this year it will be happening once again at the Place Bonaventure from November 15th until November 20th 2017. The Montreal Book Fair is open to anybody interested in any kind of genre of books. Not only will there be many books to chose from and to discover, the event will also be hosting a series of talks surrounding various themes around books, literature and our reading culture.

Montreal Book Fair

Starting from November 15th, those attending are encouraged to meet with poets, novelists, essayists, authors and illustrators who will be showcasing their most important and recent work. The book fair is also a fantastic opportunity to get your favourite book signed by the author. The entry price to the Montreal Book Fair ranges from 4$ and 8$, click here to find out which price you are eligible for and what offers are available. Click here to access their website for more information. Don’t forget to RSVP to their Facebook event by clicking here.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/montreal/montreal-book-fair-2017/feed/0Top 5 Books to Read this Novemberhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-5-books-read-november/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-5-books-read-november/#respondThu, 02 Nov 2017 11:00:01 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=41782Top 5 Books – As we’ve started a whole new month, it’s sometimes nice to set new goals and to broaden your horizons when possible. Books are fantastic in that way, you can get lost in a story or in poetry and learn at same time. To kick off November on the right foot and […]

]]>Top 5 Books – As we’ve started a whole new month, it’s sometimes nice to set new goals and to broaden your horizons when possible. Books are fantastic in that way, you can get lost in a story or in poetry and learn at same time. To kick off November on the right foot and to feel a little inspired, here’s list of our top 5 books to read this month.

Astrology A Cosmic Science by Isabel M. Hickey

During one of the last months of 2017, why not read a bit about the cosmic world and discover and title more about your star sign before the new year. This book by Isabel M. Hickey, explains the cosmic in a teachable way for you to grasp the most difficult aspects of this field. By reading it you’ll learn not only about your sign as an individual sign, but most importantly its role with others and other planets and how this impacts your day to day life. If you want to learn more about this and purchase the book, click here.

Astrology A Cosmic Science by Isabel M. Hickey

Bluets by Maggie Nelson

Bluets by Maggie Nelson blurs the boundaries of genre, and is either found in the poetry section of book stores or in the novels and essays section. The novel is composed of 240 propositions written in prose poetry. Nelson meditates on love, grief and loss all while exploring the reverie of the colour blue. To write about the colour is a way for the narrator to distract herself from the passivity and the routine of passing years and of depression. It gives an accounted detailed plunge into Nelson’s mind as she sees everything in blue, and even writes in it, during one of her darkest phases in life. Click here to read more about Bluets and to buy the book.

Bluets by Maggie Nelson

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

You may have heard of the New York Times best seller novel by Paul Kalanithi. It is an outstanding account of what makes life meaningful in the face of death. I would describe this book as beautifully tragic. It is heartbreaking and will shatter your heart in millions pieces but the epilogue written by his wife will stick it back together. Paul describes what it feels like to become the patient when you were the doctor. He tries to navigate, through his writing, how he will face death when it comes and wether he should live life as ifs he wasn’t dying or if he should be the passenger of his life. Click here to read more about Paul’s story and to purchase the book.

When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison

Kay Redfield Jamison is an acclaimed American novelist and scientist. In her book An Unquiet Mind, she describes her journey with being bipolar and how this has affected her life, both with her work and with her personal life. She tragically describes the way she has suffered throughout the years, yet brings hope to those in suffering by offering an outlet such as this book. The New York Times Book Review considered the book as “an invaluable memoir of manic depression, at once medically knowledgeable, deeply human and beautifully written … at times poetic, at times straightforward, always unashamedly honest”. Click here to read about the novel.

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison

Rest in the Mourning by r.h. Sin

Rest in the Morning is the first book of a collection of poetry by r.h.Sin including Whiskey, Words and a show as well as Whiskey, Words and a Shovel II. The first book is a compelling read about being heartbroken and offers ways to cope with heartbreak. The author, r.h.Sin, uses simple language that is easily relatable. He offers wise words throughout the novel, and writes in his poem “Unavailable” that “when the past / send you a text / don’t reply / say nothing/. To buy the first book of the collection, click here.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/top-5-books-read-november/feed/0In the Name of Humanity by Max Wallacehttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/name-humanity-max-wallace/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/name-humanity-max-wallace/#respondFri, 27 Oct 2017 13:54:44 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=41759In the Name of Humanity – About 20 years ago, when Montreal-born investigative journalist Max Wallace published a book with fellow Montreal-born investigative journalist Ian Halperin that dealt with the shady circumstances surrounding the death of grunge rocker Kurt Cobain, he told me of a book he was working on at that time, in which […]

]]>In the Name of Humanity – About 20 years ago, when Montreal-born investigative journalist Max Wallace published a book with fellow Montreal-born investigative journalist Ian Halperin that dealt with the shady circumstances surrounding the death of grunge rocker Kurt Cobain, he told me of a book he was working on at that time, in which he was doing a great deal of research about. It was about a secret deal to quickly end the Holocaust in early 1945, as Nazi Germany was on the heels of losing World War II, as the Allies were making their way to Berlin from both eastern and western Europe.

What was so astonishing about this revelation on the clandestine negotiations that was to hopefully save the remaining Jews of Europe from certain death in the Nazis’ vast network of concentration camps, was that the individual who engineered what he hoped would be a negotiated settlement to end this systematic genocide that was claiming close to six million Jews, was the man who practically initiated this horrendous exercise in mass murder: SS chief Heinrich Himmler.

In his latest book In the Name of Humanity (the title is suggested by the phrase that was used to seal an agreement that Himmler helped to negotiate in March of 1945, which would spare the lives of the remaining Jews who were held at Nazi concentration camps in Germany in the wake of an Allied victory in Europe), Wallace effectively chronicles the secret missions, attempts and negotiations that were initiated to help rescue the thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, in hope for a quick end to the Holocaust.

There are two amazing things that will captivate the readers of this book. First of all, the cast of characters who became unlikely of heroes in their tireless – and sometimes dangerous – efforts towards this mission of mercy. They include Recha Sternbuch, an Orthodox Jewish woman based in Switzerland who lead a rescue committee with her husband Isaac; Paul Gruninger, a Swiss police captain who aided the Sternbuchs in smuggling Jewish refugees across the border into Switzerland (which later cost him his job); Jean-Marie Musy, the former President of Switzerland who used his influence towards a rescue mission of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis; and probably one of the most unlikeliest of heroes in this book is Felix Kersten, the Finnish-born osteopath and masseur who had Himmler as one of his clients (to help him with his chronic stomach troubles), and virtually convinced the Nazi leader towards the negotiated agreement that would bring an end to a genocide that already eliminated the lives of nearly six million Jews.

Second, the book shows how easily influenced the fanatically meticulous Himmler was towards an agreement that he would never associate himself with. However, Wallace proves that Himmler’s motivations were rather selfish in purpose; basically, he wanted to save his own skin and convince the western Allies that if he could avert the systematic murder of more Jews in the camps according to the strict liquidation orders that were issued to him by Hitler, he somehow believed that Germany, Britain and the U.S. could focus their attention on fighting the quickly advancing Russian army and defeat the spread of Communism that would gobble up most of Europe.

Thanks to Wallace’s penchant for thorough research and conducting countless interviews with survivors and experts, the last third of the book that deals with the maneuvers and mechanics of these secret negotiations between Kersten, Musy and Himmler almost reads like a spy thriller novel in the style of Ken Follett or Frederick Forsyth (and just as riveting). And the moment when Himmler and World Jewish Congress representative Norbert Masur finally meet face to face during an arranged middle-of-the-night meeting at Kersten’s villa in Germany is a very fascinating – yet chilling – moment of improbable history (by the way, when the two are formally introduced, the uneasy silence that enveloped the room was broken when Himmler simply said to Masur “Good day. I’m glad you’ve come.”)

In the Name of Humanity is a wonderfully engrossing example of hidden history, in which Max Wallace’s superb research skills of digging up long lost documentation and crafting it into a highly readable book, has brought to life a much forgotten chapter in the history of the Holocaust. After reading this book, one has to ask themselves that if the United States, Britain and Canada were more aware and sympathetic to the plight of oppressed Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, and would have taken action much sooner rather than preferring inaction and apathy, that the number of Jews who would have been rescued from the iron jaws of Hitler and the Nazis would have been much greater.

Feature image: A group of child survivors behind a barbed wire fence at the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland. (Alexander Vorontsov/Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/name-humanity-max-wallace/feed/0Best Libraries To Study in during Reading Weekhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/montreal/best-librairies-study-reading-week/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/montreal/best-librairies-study-reading-week/#respondSat, 21 Oct 2017 14:02:08 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=41594Best Libraries – Reading Week has just started for some students in Montreal, which mostly means deadlines and assignments are due and readings must be done. Of course it’s important to take time for yourself and relax from your hectic student schedule, but for those days when you’ve decided to work during Reading Week, we’ve […]

]]>Best Libraries – Reading Week has just started for some students in Montreal, which mostly means deadlines and assignments are due and readings must be done. Of course it’s important to take time for yourself and relax from your hectic student schedule, but for those days when you’ve decided to work during Reading Week, we’ve created a list of our favourite libraries to study in.

Bibliothèque et Archive National du Quebec

This library in the heart of Downtown Montreal is a great place if you have a lot of research to do and books to explore. The library offers a vast amount of seating space, whether you’re going there to study all day, or just want to wander around the shelves and read a book. The BAnQ also has a range of books, films and much more for you to rent. If you can’t find the book you’re looking for in the library, check out their website for their online ressources. On weekdays it opens from 10 a.m until 10 p.m and on week-ends it closes at 6 p.m.

BAnQ of Montreal

Bibliothèque des Lettres et Sciences Humaine UdeM

For those who are students of the University of Montreal or live in the Côte des Neiges area, the BLSH is perfect for you. It offers 6 floors of various seating areas with private desks with plug sockets and lights. If you’re studying human sciences and literature, you’ll be able to find any books and documents you’ll need on most floors of the BLSH. On week days it opens from 8 a.m until 11p.m and on week ends it opens at 10 a.m and closes at 7 p.m During finals in December, the BLSH will be open 24/7.

BLSH

Islamic Studies Library McGill

McGill has a range of different libraries for different fields of studies, but their islamic studies library is particularly impressive. It has an impressive architecture to it and will definitely get you in the mood for a day of study. On week days the library is open from 9 a.m until 9 p.m and on Saturdays it opens from 10 a.m until 6 p.m.

Islamic Studies Library

Bibliothèque du Plateau Mont-Royal

The Montreal-Royal Library is situated just in front of the metro, perfect if you’re in a hurry to get there. This library is free of entry for any resident of the city, make sure to bring ID so they can check. The Mont-Royal Library is one of the most frequented and has been open to the public since 1984. There is a range of collection of books and over 80 000 different documents including important music pieces, comic strips and books for children. Check out their various opening times on their website by clicking here.

Bibliothèque du Plateau Mont-Royal

Marc-Favreau Library

Marc-Favreau Library is a modern library right next to the Rosemont metro on the Orange Line. They often have activities and installations all year round in the library to check out for FREE. This library is great for kids, as they have rooms designed to welcome your children. If you live in the Rosemont neighbourhood, it is the perfect library for immediate resources.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/montreal/best-librairies-study-reading-week/feed/0Hillary Clinton in Montreal – Book Tourhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/entertainment/hillary-clinton-montreal-book-tour/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/entertainment/hillary-clinton-montreal-book-tour/#respondWed, 18 Oct 2017 12:54:12 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=41464Hillary Clinton – Hillary Clinton is coming to Montreal on October 23rd as part of her USA and Canadian book tour and live shows. Her book isn’t a political account of the 2016 US election, but rather an account of her personal experience during that time. She shares personal and raw details that sometimes are […]

]]>Hillary Clinton – Hillary Clinton is coming to Montreal on October 23rd as part of her USA and Canadian book tour and live shows. Her book isn’t a political account of the 2016 US election, but rather an account of her personal experience during that time. She shares personal and raw details that sometimes are “surprisingly funny”. What Happened takes you through Clinton’s mind and reasoning and what happens next for her. As a live performance, she’ll also shares her “experience as a woman in politics” and being the first female candidate to be nominated by a leading party for the race of US President.

Hillary Clinton on Tour

Her live show in Montreal will take place at Le Palais des Congrès of Montreal at 6:30 p.m. Platinum tickets are sold out, but VIP, Gold and Silver tickets are still available for purchase on her website. Ticket prices range from 89$ up to 876$ for the VIP ticket package. Click here to book your ticket now. Hillary Clinton has already been to Toronto and will also be heading to Vancouver on December 13th. For more information about her book What Happened and her tours, click here to access her website.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/entertainment/hillary-clinton-montreal-book-tour/feed/0Living Up To A Legend by Diana Bishophttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/living-legend-diana-bishop/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/living-legend-diana-bishop/#respondMon, 09 Oct 2017 15:33:23 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=41244Living Up To A Legend – It’s not always easy to live under the shadow of a famous relative, especially one who has a historic, legendary status attached to them. Just ask former CBC/CTV/Global News reporter Diana Bishop. Her famous grandfather is the late Billy Bishop, the Canadian World War I air force pilot and […]

]]>Living Up To A Legend – It’s not always easy to live under the shadow of a famous relative, especially one who has a historic, legendary status attached to them.

Just ask former CBC/CTV/Global News reporter Diana Bishop. Her famous grandfather is the late Billy Bishop, the Canadian World War I air force pilot and flying ace who shot down 72 German planes, and was also best known for his solo raid against a German aerodrome in 1917 that earned him the highly coveted Victoria Cross medal.

Living Up To A Legend by Diana Bishop book cover

To a degree, Diana had some pressure to live up to the Bishop name and the legacy her famous grandfather established exactly a century ago. However, that legacy fell more heavily on the shoulders of her father, Arthur Bishop. A fighter pilot in his own right during World War II with the RCAF, Arthur Bishop happily preserved the heroic legacy of Billy Bishop, from writing numerous books (which included the biography “The Courage of the Early Morning”, which became a national bestseller and is still in print), and reliving that legacy in countless personal appearances and speeches he delivered at military and aviation events.

“He was masterful,” writes Diana. “Playing a part that he had been born into – though it was not one he had selected for himself.”

And now Diana Bishop, who has made a career telling other people’s stories on three television newscasts, tells her own story of what it was like to grow up with the same family name and blood ties with one of Canada’s greatest war heroes in her memoir Living Up To A Legend.

In her book, which effectively doubles as a rather cathartic confessional, Diana recounts the story of both her father and grandfather; how one built an extraordinary, heroic reputation as a result of his actions in the skies over war torn Europe, and how the other tried to echo that reputation nearly 30 years later, but to a rather lesser degree.

Diana Bishop

She chronicles the life of Billy Bishop as a man who showed exemplary bravery as a fighter pilot who faced increasing danger with every dogfight he engaged in against the nascent German air force. And although he married into a wealthy family (his bride Margaret was a member of the Eaton family, of the department store fame), he didn’t exactly get the chance to enjoy the instant monetary wealth that marrying into a wealthy family can bring. However, up until his untimely death in Florida in 1956, Billy Bishop enjoyed his celebrity, especially serving with the RCAF during World War II, and even as a technical consultant for the 1942 Warner Brothers war flick “Captains of the Clouds”, which starred James Cagney.

As for Bishop’s son – and Diana’s dad – Arthur, life wasn’t easy being the son of a World War One flying ace (he only shot down one German plane during his service with the RCAF). Although he found success as an author and speaker whose main focus was to preserve the legacy of his famous father Billy Bishop, Diana notes that he had very little success in the public relations field and the various marketing projects that he undertook (one rare success happened during the mid-60s, when he promoted a device called the “Play Tape” – which was like the precursor to the Sony Walkman). Usually, he came home from a hard day of work, had his dinner, drank his daily glass of scotch and went to bed. Although he was the life of the party when he and his wife attended parties and social gatherings, Arthur Bishop was at best a distant father to Diana and her siblings.

Also, Diana had that unenviable task of having to live under Billy Bishop’s shadow, first with the commercial success of the play “Billy Bishop Goes to War” (which helped to elevate his already legendary status), and then with the release of the NFB documentary by Paul Cowan called “The Kid Who Couldn’t Miss”, which was basically a scathing critique of Billy Bishop and his wartime record, and alleged that he lied about his war record (especially the number of German planes he shot down). She later responded to those charges after she joined Global with a documentary she put together called “A Hero to Me”, which refuted the allegations that were put forward in Cowan’s documentary about Bishop.

Diana Bishop has written a complete family memoir with Living Up To Legend, and has succeeded tremendously in telling the story of three generations of a family and how they dealt with one member’s enormous contribution to Canadian history. It is written with a great deal of honesty, journalistic integrity, admiration, pain and poignancy (especially the latter part of the book, which deals with Diana’s heartfelt reconciliation with her father towards the end of his life, as the ravages of dementia began to take over is body and mind). If Diana has proven anything with this book, is that having a family member who is historically famous can be a burden, but with a great deal of personal reconciliation and acceptance, it can be something to be proud of, and not ashamed, and face it with as much courage as Billy Bishop did a century ago. As she states at the end of the book:

“I believe that each generation builds on the experiences of the last, so in telling my story, I’ve sought not only to mend and heal my own pain, but perhaps a little of my parents’ and grandparents’, too. This is where I found my own courage. And discovered that there is a hero in all of us.”

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/living-legend-diana-bishop/feed/0Great Conversations by Peter Anthony Holderhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/great-conversations-peter-anthony-holder/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/great-conversations-peter-anthony-holder/#respondFri, 15 Sep 2017 12:31:58 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=40446Peter Anthony Holder – I have known veteran Montreal broadcaster Peter Anthony Holder for over 30 years, mainly as the co-host of my “Book Banter” segment, which has been a regular feature since 1990, first on his long-running CJAD program “Holder Tonight/Overnight” and then his podcast “The Stuph File Program”, where it currently airs twice […]

]]>Peter Anthony Holder – I have known veteran Montreal broadcaster Peter Anthony Holder for over 30 years, mainly as the co-host of my “Book Banter” segment, which has been a regular feature since 1990, first on his long-running CJAD program “Holder Tonight/Overnight” and then his podcast “The Stuph File Program”, where it currently airs twice a month.

Although he is just as well read and shares a passion for show business and media like I do, Peter has that uncanny ability of combining these two characteristics into another one of his passions: conducting celebrity interviews.

I recall during his many working vacations that he took during the 1990s and 2000s, which usually fell during the Just For Laughs festival when he moonlighted as a venue coordinator at Club Soda, Peter spent his time after hours trolling the packed lobby and bar of the Delta and Hyatt hotels armed with his portable recording device and microphone, buttonholing comics in the quest of getting a brief interview with them so that it would air in future broadcasts of his show.

Most of the time Peter succeeded. And the end result was an entertaining interview, in which his personable approach and intelligent questions would prompt his subjects to answer them in a manner that would not sound like a typical interview with the press.

Peter Anthony Holder

For nearly 30 years, Peter has interviewed countless celebrities, many of them legendary figures in the world of show business whom he and many others have grown up watching them on TV or at the movies. And with Peter, sometimes the stories behind the interview or during the interview were just as fascinating as the interviews themselves.

This is why his first book Great Conversations is so much fun to read. It’s basically a collection of 31 of his past interviews that he has conducted for his broadcasts since 1990. And the broad spectrum of celebrities that he has spotlighted in the book are pretty impressive to any show business enthusiast, whether it be Buddy Ebsen, Karl Malden, Tippi Hedren, George Takei, Phyllis Diller and even two NASA astronauts: Alan Bean (Apollo 12) and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17).

There are two things about this book that I was quite impressed with. First of all, Peter wasn’t content to place his interview subjects for the book in a chronological or random order. Instead, he decided to place two or three chapters at a time that had to have a common thread to them. For example, he placed the chapters dealing with Cloris Leachman and Ed Asner side by side because they both starred on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and had their own MTM spinoff shows; then he placed his interviews with Burt Ward, Yvonne Craig and Julie Newmar together because they starred on the ABC “Batman” TV series 50 years ago; and the raison d’etre behind pairing his interviews with the late Theodore Bikel and Christopher Plummer was that they both portrayed Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” (Bikel on Broadway; Plummer in the Oscar-winning film version).

Second, Peter shows through his conversational line of questioning that he can get the best out of his interview subjects, and offer responses and stories that sometimes go outside of the original purpose of promoting a book, TV series or movie, and end up making for fascinating listening (and reading). For example, Burt Ward candidly admits as a result of the growing popularity he and the late Adam West experienced from their roles as Batman and Robin, the three seasons they had filming the series was almost like a debauchery fest with countless female fans; Buddy Ebsen (best known for his role as Jed Clampett on “The Beverly Hillbillies”) talked about how his near fatal allergic reaction to a metallic makeup cost him the role of the Tin Man in the classic 1939 film version of “The Wizard of Oz” (yet the songs he recorded during his short time on the production was used on the movie’s final soundtrack); and although the late Gary Coleman preferred to talk about his current business ventures than discuss his years as Arnold Jackson on “Different Strokes”, Peter somehow managed to get him to open up about the difficulties (both personal and professional) he endured as a child star of a popular TV series.

The celebrity interviews that are featured in Great Conversations are more like engaging dinner conversations, in which the reader gets to be a special guest as Peter Anthony Holder and his celebrity subjects in question chew a lot of fascinating behind the scenes fat. It’s a vivid testament to how conducting an interview – and how to get it – can be an art. And if it’s carefully crafted like the way Peter has done it for so many years, can be a masterpiece, too.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/great-conversations-peter-anthony-holder/feed/0Playboy Laughs by Patty Farmerhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/playboy-laughs-patty-farmer/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/playboy-laughs-patty-farmer/#respondFri, 08 Sep 2017 14:59:21 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=40265Playboy Laughs by Patty Farmer – Towards the end of her book Playboy Laughs, Patty Farmer had this to say about the Playboy magazine empire and its iconic founder-publisher Hugh Hefner: “Through his groundbreaking clubs, TV shows, and jazz festivals, Hefner provided a vast network of venues where artists could develop and hone their craft […]

]]>Playboy Laughs by Patty Farmer – Towards the end of her book Playboy Laughs, Patty Farmer had this to say about the Playboy magazine empire and its iconic founder-publisher Hugh Hefner: “Through his groundbreaking clubs, TV shows, and jazz festivals, Hefner provided a vast network of venues where artists could develop and hone their craft and audiences could enjoy the latest and greatest in live entertainment … at its peak, Playboy was the largest employer of entertainment talent in the country.”

As Playboy expanded its “entertainment for men” empire into television, clubs and resorts, they needed entertainers to fill those stages and provide their audiences with plenty of music and laughter. In this companion volume to Playboy Swings, Farmer chronicles the comedians who provided that entertainment, and in many cases, built their respective show business careers as a result.

Patty Farmer

Through countless interviews and anecdotes, Farmer traces how shows like “Playboy’s Penthouse”, and its networks of Playboy Clubs and resorts became a breeding ground for comedy. It begins with longtime comics Professor Irwin Corey, Larry Storch (best known for his role in the 60s sitcom “F Troop”) and pioneering Black comic Dick Gregory who got his big break at the original Playboy Club in Chicago, because Corey needed to take a rare Sunday night off from his busy schedule at the club.

The comics who were interviewed for the book agree that although performing an endless schedule of shows at the Playboy Clubs were physically exhausting, the benefits far outweighed the punishing schedule, such as the good pay, the prospect of guaranteed long term employment, and of course, the chance to socialize – and date – the bevy of Bunnies who worked at the clubs (although the rules for the Bunnies strictly prohibited the latter). This not only applied to the established comics who appeared at the Playboy Club, but also those comics who were not entirely household names like Jerry Pawlek, Jackie Curtiss, Bill Tracy and Howard Storm, who can thank Playboy for giving them a steady gig, and later a long lasting career.

However, Playboy Laughs is like two books in one. The second half focuses on those individuals who used pen and ink to emit laughter through the cartoons they drew for the pages of Playboy magazine since the late 50s. Cartoonists like Jack Cole, Gahan Wilson, Doug Sneyd, Jules Feiffer, Dean Yeagle and Alberto Vargas proved that their cartoons in Playboy can be sexy and funny at the same time. They all agree that working for Playboy not only meant wide exposure, but also generous payments for their published works, even if it meant having to deal with Hefner in the editorial process through handwritten comments that were sent to them via snail mail. And sometimes, these cartoonists worked in somewhat out of the ordinary circumstances to get certain projects realized (case in point is longtime Mad magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee, who recounts a time when he and several other cartoonists sequestered themselves in a New York City hotel suite to work on the different steps it took to compile a book of cartoons that featured Harvey Kurtzman’s popular character “Little Annie Fanny”, who was a Playboy fixture since 1962).

Playboy Laughs is a highly entertaining and constantly amusing look back at another aspect of Playboy’s once mighty entertainment empire. Its sense of nurturing and encouragement helped build the careers of some of the greatest names in modern comedy through its network of clubs, and proved that Playboy was a force in 20th century popular culture beyond the confines of its legendary centerfold. (Beaufort Books, $27.95)

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/playboy-laughs-patty-farmer/feed/0Al Franken – Giant of the Senate reviewhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/al-franken-giant-senate-review/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/al-franken-giant-senate-review/#respondFri, 25 Aug 2017 20:39:03 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=39850Al Franken – When I first heard of the title of Al Franken’s humourous political memoir “Giant of the Senate”, the first thing that came to mind was “Master of the Senate”, the title of the Pulitzer Prize-winning third volume of Robert A. Caro’s epic biography of former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. This volume, […]

]]>Al Franken – When I first heard of the title of Al Franken’s humourous political memoir “Giant of the Senate”, the first thing that came to mind was “Master of the Senate”, the title of the Pulitzer Prize-winning third volume of Robert A. Caro’s epic biography of former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.

This volume, which was published 15 years ago, covered Johnson’s 12 years as Senate Majority Leader from 1948 to 1960, and how he used that esteemed, powerful position to its fullest extent – with a great deal of phone calling, cajoling and even bullying that were his trademark characteristics thrown into the mix – to get the legislation and government programs that he believed in get passed into law by the Senate.

Although he is no master of this much revered legislative body like LBJ, the SNL writer/comedian-turned-junior senator from Minnesota has carved out an impressive track record since his first election to the U.S. Senate in 2008, as a true progressive politician whose main aim is to represent the people of Minnesota and fight for legislation that will benefit them and the American people as a whole.

Al Franken: Giant of the Senate book jacket

…And when you come to think of it, with the acrimonious nature that has befallen both houses of Congress since 2009 (and has ramped up even considerably since the election of Donald Trump to the presidency last November), Franken has truly become a “giant of the Senate” (although he probably meant it in a more jokingly, rather self-deflating manner).

The book chronicles Franken’s career from comedy to politics, first as a writer/performer for SNL during the 70s and 80s, to radio show host and satirist (as the liberal equivalent and antithesis to Rush Limbaugh), to best selling author, to finally political activist and U.S. Senator.

Sparing no details, Franken gives the reader a clear, insightful look at how Minnesota politics works (especially all the “Bean Feeds” he had to attend as part of his first campaign to get the Democratic nomination for the Senate); how his first campaign against incumbent Republican senator Norm Coleman was a nasty, name calling campaign that compelled his wife Franni to do a TV campaign spot in which she confessed about her bout with alcoholism (and went through a series of recounts and court challenges before Franken was declared the winner and finally sworn in … in the summer of 2009); the ins and outs of being a U.S. Senator (in which he learned the hard way of how NOT to give his staff credit in public for a job well done); and the arduous process of trying to pass or defeat a piece of legislation, and all the loopholes and roadblocks that go with it.

And through it all, Franken tells his story with a great deal of rationality, knowledge and of course, generous doses of his somewhat understated, yet always pointed sense of humour (for example, here’s what he has to say about how to be an effective Democratic senator: “…you have to be able to hold two inherently contradictory ideas in your head at the same time without suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.”).

Of course, he saves his best venomous jabs for his Republican opponents in the Senate chamber. Although he admits to love/hate relationships with current Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he lobs his most pointed, venom laden arrows for Texas senator (and defeated presidential candidate) Ted Cruz, who gives the impression that he has been a constant thorn in the side of not only Franken, but practically every Senator on both sides of the chamber (especially due to his liberal use of the word “sophistry”).

Here’s how Franken sums up the ordeal that is working with Ted Cruz: “Ted Cruz isn’t just wrong about almost everything. He’s impossible to work with. And he doesn’t care that he’s impossible to work with. And here’s why, even when the choice was between Ted Cruz … and Donald Trump …, establishment Republicans couldn’t bring themselves to rally behind Cruz. Even if you like what he stands for, the most he’ll ever be able to accomplish is being an obnoxious wrench in the gears of government … Real senatoring requires that you build productive relationships with your colleagues. And Ted just isn’t that kind of guy.”

Al Franken: Giant of the Senate is a refreshing political memoir that takes out all the stuffiness that goes with a lot of books of that genre, and injects a great deal of honesty and humour that only an individual like Al Franken can offer. And with the U.S. and its government becoming more divisive than ever over the past decade and counting, we need more people like Al Franken (and behind-the-scenes political manifestos like this book) as an example of what an elected official should be like: taking his job with varying degrees of seriousness and humour, yet without losing sight of its original purpose of introducing legislation and passing laws that will benefit the people whom elected you to that governmental office, and to whom you swore to serve to the best of your abilities. So help you God.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/al-franken-giant-senate-review/feed/0Thank You For Coming To Hattiesburg by Todd Barryhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/thank-coming-hattiesburg-todd-barry/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/thank-coming-hattiesburg-todd-barry/#respondThu, 13 Jul 2017 16:21:30 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=38734Todd barry – It’s no big secret that the life of a stand-up comedian is a solitary, lonely one. When they are not writing jokes and routines, or performing in front of live audiences at theatres or clubs, the comedian’s life is mostly that of a “road warrior”. They are travelling by air or road […]

]]>Todd barry – It’s no big secret that the life of a stand-up comedian is a solitary, lonely one. When they are not writing jokes and routines, or performing in front of live audiences at theatres or clubs, the comedian’s life is mostly that of a “road warrior”. They are travelling by air or road to cities and towns across North America, performing their opening or headlining set for the sheer purpose of making people laugh at their jokes, and hopefully getting paid once their 45-minute or hour-long stage times are done.

Veteran comedian Todd Barry, who will be hosting “The Masters” series at this year’s Just For Laughs festival from July 27 to 29, knows what it’s like to be a comedy “road warrior”. He has experienced his share of travelling from gig to gig, in all types of venues, in locales large and small. Instead of dreading each stop along the road for his gigs, Barry has become a keen observer of what each stop had to offer him, not to mention some of the highlights and quirks that went along with it, based on his experiences from past gigs, whether they were memorable or totally forgettable.

And for his very first book, Barry has taken a year-and-a-half’s worth of comedy road stories and turned them into a rather interesting travelogue called Thank You For Coming To Hattiesburg.

The book starts on a grand scale; that is with Todd being the opening act for a Louis C.K. show at Madison Square Garden in New York. From there, he hits the road to embark upon a series of headlining gigs in medium-sized cities and towns across the U.S. (including stops in Israel and Winnipeg), from Portland, Maine to Ronnert Park, California, to yes, even the city mentioned in the book’s title – Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

However, with each entry about the places he performs at during this year-and-a-half comedy odyssey, Barry rarely makes the show itself the emphasis of his observations; in fact, many times, the shows themselves play a rather secondary role. Instead, he chooses to focus on several non-show related observations with each stop. Some deal with his never ending quest for the perfect cup of coffee in the ideal coffee shop; or the conditions of his hotel room or venue dressing room (good or bad); or quirky tourist attractions that he happens to stumble upon; or recounting incidents that occurred during a previous stop in the city in question; or even searching for restaurants that don’t offer the typical chain hotel fare (by the way, if you happen to run a Mongolian BBQ restaurant, expect a visit from Todd the next time he performs in your hometown).

And there are plenty of interesting stories that Todd shares with the reader that fall under the above categories. For instance, Todd recounts the time he last played a gig in Jersey City, in which the booker hesitated paying him after the show (the sweaty booker hemmed and hawed until he gave him enough cash to pay the opening act, and to this day Todd still hasn’t been paid for that gig); during a coffee stop at District Coffee in Boise, Idaho, Todd was so impressed with the black plus signs on white background design in its bathroom, that he took a selfie of it, and became an Instagram sensation for several weeks; Todd recounts one of his favorite museum experiences following a gig in Wilmington, North Carolina at the Cape Fear Serpentarium; then there’s the time when he checked into his hotel room in Mulvane, Kansas, only to find that the toilet was left unflushed (Todd got another room, plus a $25 food voucher); and then there was the time he performed in Missoula, Montana, in which his dressing room was nothing but a cramped, littered storage closet, and when he found out he couldn’t even get a bottle of water, the promoter “generously” offered him a sip from the bottle that he was drinking out of.

Todd’s dry, glib tone that he employs in the book somehow removes the sense of bitterness and dread that many comedians develop when encountering such circumstances while on the road (which happens way too often, unfortunately). But somehow, he views it with a sense of adventure and looks forward to every stop along the way, so he could continue his quest for the perfect cup of coffee or discover a new restaurant before or after a performance.

Thank You For Coming To Hattiesburg is a fascinating book that gives a fresh perspective at the sometimes solitary world of the stand-up comic. Being a comedy road warrior is not always the glamourous part of the job of making people laugh on a regular basis, but Todd Barry demonstrates how he has earned his stripes on the road, which can be frustrating at times, but somehow he manages to find something that catches his interest, and makes that time touring across the country not such a dreadful proposition. A must-read for comedy fans and those who want to follow in the footsteps of Todd Barry and those multitudes of comedy road warriors.

(Gallery Books, $34.99)

By: Stuart Nulman – mtltimes.ca

To see the article in the Montreal Times 22.84 July 15, 2017 edition please click on the above image

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/thank-coming-hattiesburg-todd-barry/feed/0Nevertheless by Alec Baldwinhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/nevertheless-alec-baldwin/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/nevertheless-alec-baldwin/#respondMon, 26 Jun 2017 11:38:33 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=38259Nevertheless by Alec Baldwin – You may know actor Alec Baldwin as CIA agent Jack Ryan, the lead prosecutor during the Nuremberg war crimes trials, as TV network executive Jack Donaghy, or even as President Donald J. Trump. But the one role that Alec Baldwin has portrayed throughout his more than 30 years on the […]

]]>Nevertheless by Alec Baldwin – You may know actor Alec Baldwin as CIA agent Jack Ryan, the lead prosecutor during the Nuremberg war crimes trials, as TV network executive Jack Donaghy, or even as President Donald J. Trump.

But the one role that Alec Baldwin has portrayed throughout his more than 30 years on the stage, movies and TV – not to mention his off-screen controversies that grabbed a great deal of tabloid headlines – that many members of the general public is not aware of is of the real Alec Baldwin himself, and the rough road he had to travel to get to where is today.

“I want you to know that my name is Xander Baldwin … I’m from 25 Greatwater Avenue is Massapequa, New York, and my siblings, including Beth, Daniel, Billy, Jane, and Stephen, didn’t turn out all bad, and that is due to my parents: my mother, who lived to grow and change in remarkable ways, and my father, who sacrificed his life caring for and giving to his children and others,” confesses Baldwin in the preface of his eye-opening memoir Nevertheless.

Alec Baldwin holding his book “Nevertheless”

If it was Baldwin’s mission to elicit from the reader feelings of elation, sadness, sympathy and empathy from this memoir, he accomplished it with flying colours. This is especially so with the earlier section of the book, when he recounts his life growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Massapequa. There is plenty of sadness, disappointment and tragedy within these pages, especially when he recounts how his father – who was a much respected high school teacher for 28 years – worked hard at his job (not to mention taking on many other extra-curricular responsibilities), yet he received no career nor monetary advancement for his efforts. (“…he was someone who let his stubborn sense of personal integrity overtake his common sense,” concludes Baldwin). Then there was his paternal grandfather who lived in Brooklyn, who was a respected assistant district attorney, yet was disbarred after he was implicated in a bribery scandal.

Yet through all his formative years filled with such personal and family setbacks, Baldwin always managed to be resourceful and survive such instances that would break any mortal human being. First of all, he managed to develop of love of show business through the bonding he did with his father and grandfather by sitting on the sofa and watching countless classic movies and TV shows on the family TV set. And although his father’s salary was barely enough to support his large family, Baldwin managed to raise his own spending money and for college by mowing lawns, amongst other mini enterprises (and he found pleasures in such simple things as sharing a container of fried rice with his brother Billy outside the town’s Chinese restaurant after a long day of lawn mowing).

If you are looking for stories dealing with Baldwin’s career in show business, then Nevertheless will not disappoint. From Baldwin’s first big break in the Broadway production of “Prelude to A Kiss”; to his back and forth battle with Paramount Pictures to repeat his Jack Ryan role in the next Tom Clancy political thriller (which he believes the studio lead him on, yet never intended to re-sign him to the role); to how he nearly derailed his movie career by accepting a part on the Neil Simon original rom-com “The Marrying Man”; to his success as a repeat “Saturday Night Live” host (which he attributes to not portraying screen characters that the SNL cast could easily imitate, and left him open to do original characters that the show’s writers created), there are plenty of behind-the-scenes entertainment industry stories that he shares in the book for readers to enjoy.

However, don’t expect to find any details about how his career has experienced another rapid revival thanks to his dead-on parody-like imitations of President Trump that he has performed on SNL for nearly a year. In fact, Baldwin plans to release another book under his Trump guise sometime this fall.

Nevertheless is a riveting, brutally honest – and somewhat therapeutic — memoir of one man overcoming a great deal of personal and professional ups and downs to become a true show business renaissance man and survivor … and he has all the scars to prove it.

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/nevertheless-alec-baldwin/feed/0Steve McQueen – Le Mans in the Rearview Mirrorhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/steve-mcqueen-le-mans-rearview-mirror/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/steve-mcqueen-le-mans-rearview-mirror/#respondSun, 04 Jun 2017 18:12:06 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=37569Steve McQueen – In the world of sports movies, there are at best a mere handful of memorable movies dealing with the fast-paced, highly dangerous world of auto racing (and only three come to mind): “Grand Prix” with James Garner; “Rush”, Ron Howard’s speed-charged story of the James Hunt-Nikki Lauda F1 rivalry during the 70s; […]

]]>Steve McQueen – In the world of sports movies, there are at best a mere handful of memorable movies dealing with the fast-paced, highly dangerous world of auto racing (and only three come to mind): “Grand Prix” with James Garner; “Rush”, Ron Howard’s speed-charged story of the James Hunt-Nikki Lauda F1 rivalry during the 70s; and “Le Mans”, Steve McQueen’s docudrama tribute to the endurance test that is the 24 hours of Le Mans race in France.

Niki Lauda and James Hunt F1 rivalry

It is the latter movie that is the subject of a fascinating pictorial behind-the-scenes coffee table book that tells the story of the making of “Le Mans”, and how it toppled one of the most popular male movie stars of the 1960s: Steve McQueen: Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror.

Written by Hollywood veteran prop man Don Nunley, who served as the movie’s property master, it chronicles through his words and pictures (over 400 of them in colour and black & white) how this trouble-plagued racing movie to end all racing movies was agonizingly put together throughout the summer of 1970. The Le Mans race takes place throughout a 24-hour space of time during a weekend every spring in the French town of Le Mans, and it is one of the most prestigious – and deadliest – international auto races.

McQueen, a self-confessed speed junkie who loved to race motorcycles and cars when he wasn’t churning out such epic hit movies as “The Great Escape”, “The Sand Pebbles” and “Bullitt”, wanted to make the ultimate auto racing movie as his personal pet project. He wanted to focus on the F1 circuit, until “Grand Prix” quashed those plans in 1966; as a result, he then set his sights on the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Steve McQueen – Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror Book

Through Nunley’s words and pictures, he effectively tells the story how “Le Mans” was a troubled production from the moment the cameras started rolling (the first bits of principal photography were film footage that was shot at the actual 1970 Le Mans race). The production went for weeks without a finished script; the shooting went for weeks over schedule and $1 million over budget; and most of all, the production had to deal with McQueen’s massive ego and sometimes childish behaviour, which began when the insurance company for the movie wouldn’t allow him to participate in the actual Le Mans race, believing that his getting into a potential accident would be harmful to the production, let alone McQueen’s well being. And as a result of this churlish attitude, McQueen harmed many of the personal and professional friendships that he nurtured throughout his career (especially that of John Sturges, who directed McQueen to fame in such pictures as “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Great Escape”, and was the original director of “Le Mans”).

However, Nunley does share a great deal of interesting anecdotes about the production that help to balance the ill feelings amongst the cast and crew that eventually festered throughout the shoot. There was his successful attempt to get McQueen to wear one of TAG Heuer’s bulky Monaco watches as a piece of product placement, which later became a valuable and much sought-after movie memorabilia item; then there was the basketball game that Nunley organized at his chateau during one weekend between the “Le Mans” crew and a group of local French players; however, the crew didn’t realize until it was too late that they were about to face off against the championship French national basketball team.

As well, his more than 400 photos that are in the book show quite explicitly the intensity of what kind of auto race Le Mans is, how much hard work was involved making this movie, not to mention the many moods of Steve McQueen on and off the set.

Released in the summer of 1971, “Le Mans” was a critical and commercial flop, despite the ambitious publicity campaign that Cinema Center – the film’s production company – undertook (which McQueen refused to take part in), and quickly derailed his status as a major movie star (which was just as quickly revived during the early 70s thanks to his performances in “Junior Bonner”, “The Getaway”, “Papillon” and “The Towering Inferno”). However, time has been quite kind to “Le Mans”, and has gradually found an audience and cult status as one of the definitive, honest movies about the world of auto racing.

Steve McQueen: Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror is an adrenaline-charged portrait of a movie star’s pet project that went totally awry, which left many car wrecks in its wake, yet has now become a sports movie classic, not to mention retained the superstar status of Hollywood’s original macho man.

And as McQueen said in his inimitable manner about the months-long endurance test that was the making of “Le Mans” the motion picture: “Le Mans was the toughest picture I ever made in my life. But it was worth it.”

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/steve-mcqueen-le-mans-rearview-mirror/feed/0David Letterman – The Last Giant of Late Night by Jason Zinomanhttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/david-letterman-last-giant-late-night-jason-zinoman/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/david-letterman-last-giant-late-night-jason-zinoman/#respondSun, 14 May 2017 12:27:11 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=37066David Letterman at best, can be described as an “anti-talk show host”. For more than 30 years on the late night TV talk show circuit, Letterman’s two talk shows broke all the conventions that are usually associated with a late night talk show, took the elements of what “Tonight Show” hosts Steve Allen, Jack Paar […]

David Letterman at best, can be described as an “anti-talk show host”. For more than 30 years on the late night TV talk show circuit, Letterman’s two talk shows broke all the conventions that are usually associated with a late night talk show, took the elements of what “Tonight Show” hosts Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson respectively brought to the show – elements that influenced Letterman – and created a show that he tailored to his ironic, unconventional style of humour. The end result was a show that had a growing cult following, thanks to segments like “Stupid Pet Tricks”, the “Top 10 List” and “Viewer Mail”, and making stars out of the most ordinary and unlikely people, such as book publicist Meg Parsont, hack actor Larry “Bud” Melman and even Dave’s mom.

As New York Times critic Jason Zinoman writes in his probing biography Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night: “Late Night appealed to the same voyeuristic pleasures that would soon be exploited by the reality show genre. It had its own contrived narrative that its fans followed closely, and after a decade of peeling back the artifice of his show, Letterman invited you to see him as the protagonist of his own drama. … You might say that Late Night with David Letterman became what happened when one talk show host stopped being polite and started getting real.”

Zinoman traces the life and career of David Letterman with a great deal of thoroughness, as he speaks with many of his former writers, producers and staffers to get a portrait of an individual who carved out a brilliant career on television because he constantly went for the unconventional and proved to be a breath of fresh air as a result, yet off the air, he was a walking bundle of insecurity, self doubt and self loathing.

David Letterman The last giant of late night book jacket (Harper, $35.99)

From his abortive morning talk show on NBC during the summer of 1980 (which I watched and marveled at during his very short run on the network’s daytime line-up), to the growing pains of “Late Night”, to superstardom on “The Late Show”, the book deals with the evolution of an unconventional, one of a kind TV personality who wanted to be like Johnny Carson without exactly being Carson.

If there is one unsung hero who is to be heralded in this book as to being the one who molded David Letterman into the cult figure that he is regarded as today, and that is Merrill Markoe. The talented comedy writer and author – who was also Letterman’s longtime girlfriend throughout the 1980s – helped to create the regular segments that made “Late Night with David Letterman” such a popular show with viewers who wanted a break from the conventional format that “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” regularly offered (and earned Letterman a number of Emmy Awards).

Basically, those early, revolutionary years on NBC helped to cement Letterman’s reputation as a late night talk show giant. However, as a result of his bitter battle with Jay Leno over who would succeed Carson as “Tonight Show” host, not to mention the influx of younger hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien, Letterman’s feelings of self loathing grew even deeper, as he began to rely on his writing staff on a diminishing basis (which resulted in many of those writers defecting to the writing staffs of hit TV sitcoms or competing talk shows), preferring more celebrity interviews or his increasing abilities as a storyteller. By the time his show went off the air in 2015, Letterman became more introverted, eschewed rehearsals and basically sleepwalked through the motions as host. Even the work atmosphere at the production office was toxic, with his remaining writers and staffers subjected to lengthy post-mortem meetings following show tapings, in which Letterman just rambled on for hours with lengthy monologues about his life and insecurities.

These days, Letterman is more or less living a comfortable, hermit-like existence with his wife and son, and is unrecognizable with the large, philosopher-style beard he has grown since his departure from the airwaves (although he has recently broke his silence, with his limited engagement as guest co-host on Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) weekly program “The Essentials”).

Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night is an absorbing study of a rather enigmatic TV personality who became an iconic figure because he set new, revolutionary standards of how the late night TV talk show should be done … yet he hated every minute of it!

To see the article in the Montreal Times 22.66 May 13, 2017 edition please click on the above image

]]>http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/david-letterman-last-giant-late-night-jason-zinoman/feed/0Rock Solid by Tim Raineshttp://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/36677-2/
http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/books/36677-2/#respondMon, 24 Apr 2017 12:00:11 +0000http://mtltimes.ca/?p=36677Earlier this January, Montreal Expos fans past and present breathed a collective sigh of relief – and uttered a collective “It’s about time” – when it was announced that All-Star stolen base king Tim “Rock” Raines finally garnered enough votes that earned him induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And it all came about […]

Earlier this January, Montreal Expos fans past and present breathed a collective sigh of relief – and uttered a collective “It’s about time” – when it was announced that All-Star stolen base king Tim “Rock” Raines finally garnered enough votes that earned him induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And it all came about after his 10th and final time during the eligibility period for potential inductees.

“Entry into the Hall of Fame is the culmination of a life’s work. My journey to Cooperstown started when I picked up a bat and glove for the first time when I was five years old and continued in ways I never dreamed of,” writes Raines in his recently published memoir Rock Solid.

If you were an Expos fan throughout the 1980s, you couldn’t help but notice Raines’ presence on the diamond, especially after a base hit, when he was leading off the bag and ready to pounce, so that he can steal second with lightning speed (which he succeeded most of the time). The excitement that “Rock” brought to the Expos with his base stealing prowess throughout that decade – coupled with the talents of teammates Andre Dawson and the late Gary Carter – helped the Expos to a number of winning seasons (and a National League East title in 1981), and earned it the moniker “Team of the 80s”.

In his book, Raines recounts the good times – and the frustrations – he experienced as a member of the Expos on and off the field, which will certainly bring back a great deal of fond memories for those fans who caught their share of Expos games at the Olympic Stadium.

As well, Raines recounts with a great deal of candor about his cocaine habit that nearly derailed his career in 1982. He admits that being a rookie player in the majors, and barely in his 20s and starting to earn a major league salary, made him an easy victim to fall into the trap of fast living and constant partying, not to mention indulging in the drug of choice of major league players before steroids emerged (he even revealed that he carried packets of cocaine in the back pocket of his uniform, and ended up sliding headfirst when he stole bases). And he credits the help and support of his Expos teammates and front office staff to help him on the road towards kicking the habit before it destroyed his abilities and his life.

“Drugs don’t free you. They greatly limit you,” he writes. “After I kicked the habit, I vowed to play every game in the most uninhibited manner possible. The only white lines I wanted to see were those on a baseball field.”

And Raines certainly played baseball in that promised uninhibited manner through his more than 20 years as a major leaguer. Not only did he rack up those stolen bases (which ranked him as one of the top base stealers in the game, along with Ricky Henderson and Vince Coleman), but he also proved himself to be quite capable as a hitter and outfielder when his base stealing abilities slowed down later in his career. He also chronicles his post-Expos years as a member of the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees during the 90s with plenty of candid details, especially when he played alongside future Hall of Famer Frank Thomas and Hall of Famer-to-be Derek Jeter (not to mention earning him three World Series with the Yankees: two as a player in 1996 and 1998, and one as a coach in 2009).

Another thing that you learn about Raines is his strong sense of family, both on and off the field. This is well exemplified as he recounts his efforts during the latter part of his career to play a ball game on the same field as his son Tim, Jr. (who was carving out an impressive baseball career for himself in the minor leagues). This was accomplished in 2001, during a spring training game when Raines returned to the Expos for the final time and his son was playing for the Baltimore Orioles.

Rock Solid is indeed a rock solid baseball memoir of one of the most honest, entertaining players the Expos have ever had on their roster. His vast love of the game, the people whom he played alongside with, and his family is quite genuine and is exhibited quite vividly throughout the pages of his book. Tim Raines has given Expos fans a lot to cheer about when he graced the field throughout the 1980s, and I am sure many of those fans will be cheering loudly for him this July, when accepts his induction plaque in Cooperstown.

To see the article in the Montreal Times 22.60 April 22, 2017 edition please click on the above image